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Gary Payton is best known for his legendary Seattle Supersonics career, and he sees the return of the Sonics as a necessity for the Emerald City.
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The Hall of Fame point guard established his legacy in the NBA as a member of the Supersonics (1990-2003), leading them to the NBA Finals in 1996 and becoming the first point guard in league history to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. Payton also went to the All-Star game nine times and led the league in assists and steals.
With the NBA approving possible expansion into Seattle and Las Vegas for the 2028-29 season, the city of Seattle could see the return of the Supersonics for the first time in two decades. Their franchise left Seattle in 2008 to become the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Our community needs it”
“Our community needs it,” Payton told Covers in an exclusive interview. “I think that we should be able to get our Sonics back, because if you look at it, we just won the Super Bowl. Baseball is doing very, very well. The Storm is doing very well; they’ve won a lot of championships. They gave Sue Bird a statue in front of the place. We’re doing things like that in Washington.
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“The Huskies, the Sounders, everybody is coming. The Kraken, our new NHL team. We’re pretty good. The only thing we’re missing is basketball. When that comes back, it’s going to be a great thing for me to be a part of it, be up there every day and get it back going. Get our tradition back.”
Payton said that he will absolutely be a part of the Supersonics franchise if it does come back. He said he’s close to the ownership group looking to lead the franchise, One Roof Sports & Entertainment, back to Seattle.
“I can’t do anything else,” Payton said. “This is the franchise that started me. That’s the franchise that started ‘The Glove’, the franchise that got me to become a Hall of Famer, a top-75 player. So yes, I’m going to be a part of that and get that built to where it needs to be built back up, when we were winning in the 90s and every game was sold out. When we were winning…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/exclusive-interview-gary-payton-return-143900807.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-22 07:12:00
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