SeaTown Sports Insider - 5/14/24

The Sonics are coming soon . . . but when?

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What’s on my mind - Imminent NBA TV deal signals Sonics’ Return

Some local insiders have referred to the Sonics’ likely return to Seattle as the NBA’s worst-kept secret. And it looks like the Sonics will return to Seattle in the preferred mode of an expansion team, and not another city’s franchise.

Why likely? The NBA is negotiating new television contracts with the major networks that will lead to a rumored $76 billion payout over 11 years. This means more money for the owners and more opportunity for the NBA to invest in a new franchise or in Seattle’s case, a renewed franchise. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last December that the league is “certainly looking” at the Seattle market for expansion once the league’s media rights deals are complete. Silver, this past February, also said it was “likely we expand” and that it’d be two teams joining the NBA. At the moment, Seattle and Las Vegas are the two cities that are getting all the buzz.

To be clear, the new TV contracts aren’t signed yet, but this amount of money on the table means it’s just a matter of when the Sonics will return not if they will return. And it’ll take at least a few years. The media deals will likely be hammered out in the next few months. Then, at least one report thinks 2025 could be the earliest a vote amongst the NBA owners would occur for expansion. If such a vote occurred in January 2025, an expansion draft could occur in 2026, with the team presumably playing at Climate Pledge Arena for the 2026-2027 NBA season. This would track the same timeline that brought the Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (the NBA’s last expansion team) to fruition back in 2004.

One potential owner is the Kraken ownership group. Seattle Kraken co-owner Samantha Holloway wrote to Kraken fans earlier this month: "Later this summer, you will hear more about our future Seattle Ambitions as we roll out a parent brand that will umbrella the Kraken brand and prepare for other big opportunities." Everyone in Seattle can read between the lines. The Athletic reports that the bidding for an expansion franchise in Seattle would likely begin in the $4 billion range and could reach up to $5 billion.

It is hard to believe that it has been over 15 years since the Sonics left Seattle. But for those who have held out hope, bright times are ahead.

The Recruiting Corner

The “Contact Period”

Jedd Fisch and his coaching staff are recruiting across the country and making the most of the “contact period” that runs until May 25th. During this time, coaches can make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.

Last week, the Huskies extended offers to a handful of athletes, across different class years. I’m keeping a running list here on my X account @kcposports.

The Huskies gained four more transfer commitments last week. Two of them, WR Kevin Green Jr. and RB Jordan Washington, are both from Arizona. That makes a total of 15 Wildcats following their coaching staff to UW. Tight End Keleki Latu from Nevada and DL DeShawn Lynch from Sacramento State also announced their transfers to UW.

What else happened this week

Seattle U finally joins the WCC

The WCC announced that Seattle University and Grand Canyon University will be joining the conference in 2025. This news comes after the WCC announced that Washington State and Oregon State would join the WCC this fall. The Pac-2 schools will likely depart from the WCC once their affiliation agreement ends in 2026. The schools will likely seek full membership at a major conference to accommodate their football programs.

This is welcome news for Seattle U, which has been shut out from joining the WCC since the university entered the Division I fray in 2009. Why it took so long for Seattle U to join the WCC is up for debate. As a private Catholic institution on the West Coast, it made plenty of sense for the school to join the conference they were once a member of in the 1970s. One is that Gonzaga and other schools may have blocked their admission into the WCC because Seattle U’s basketball program would have weakened the conference and Gonzaga’s chances to secure an NCAA tournament bid.

What has changed from Gonzaga’s perspective? Adding Grand Canyon fills the void left by BYU, so Seattle U’s admission doesn’t hurt the conference. Gonzaga may not care who the WCC adds to its league because they have their sights on joining a major basketball conference (i.e., the Big 12).