As a fan of the NBA I am greatly saddened that the NBA playoffs, and potentially the NBA finals will be tarnished by June court proceedings in Seattle. It is truly difficult to understand an NBA owners efforts to prove via litigation that the fans and our city have no attachment to this great franchise.
June is a great month in Sonics history. Current ownership likely does not know, nor care that on June 16 of 1996 our team, led by Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, and Nate McMillan battled the Chicago Bulls in front of thousands of passionate fans. That team averaged in excess of 17,000 fans per game in Key Arena. In June of 1978 the SuperSonics fell to the Washington Bullets in the NBA Finals and in June of the very next year the team averaged 18,225 fans as they defeated the Bullets to win their first NBA Championship. It was June 27, 1990 that NBA Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton was drafted by the SuperSonics.
June is the a month of great importance to the league, and historical significant to our own franchise. It is an insult to fans everywhere as well as anyone associated with this league that an owner would take this action with such blatant disregard to the history and well being of the game .