Seattle SuperSonics

The Seattle SuperSonics (also commonly referred to as the Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as the Oklahoma City Thunder. The SuperSonics nickname, logo, and color scheme will be made available to any subsequent NBA team in Seattle, and according to the team's Oklahoma-based owners, the Sonics' franchise history would be shared between the Thunder and any future Seattle club.

The SuperSonics won the NBA Championship in 1979, and are one of three teams out of the six major-league men's professional sports franchises that have existed in Seattle (the Sonics, Mariners, Pilots, Seahawks, Sounders, and Metropolitans, winners of the 1917 Stanley Cup) to have won a championship.

Sam Schulman owned the team from its 1967 inception until 1983. It was also owned by Barry Ackerley (1983–2001), and the Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz (2001–2006). On October 31, 2006, the SuperSonics' purchase by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett was finalized and the new ownership group took control. After failing to find public funding to construct a new arena in the Seattle area, the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008–09 season, following a $45 million settlement with the city of Seattle to pay off the team's existing lease at KeyArena in advance of its 2010 expiration.

In 2012, a group of investors came forward with a plan to build a new arena in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood. The investors hope to revive the SuperSonics name and archives. On October 15, 2012, the King County Council voted unanimously in favor; while the Seattle City Council voted 7-2 to approve the amended SoDo arena proposal.