Woohoo it's unofficial! We're getting a team again! As such, an expansion draft has to be done to imagine the oldest-new NBA team. The rules of expansion are as follows:

A. Player Selection

• The Supersonics will select a minimum of 14 players who are under contract or restricted free agents for the 2014-15 season.

• The Supersonics may select no more than one player from each team.

• The Supersonics can only select players that are left unprotected by an NBA team.

• Each of the 30 NBA teams may protect a maximum of eight players on its roster who are under contract or are restricted free agents at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season.

• Each of the 30 NBA teams will designate the players on its roster who are eligible for selection by the Supersonics.

• Each of the 30 NBA teams must designate at least one player on its roster to be eligible for selection by the Supersonics, even if the team does not have eight players under contract or as restricted free agents for the 2014-15 season.

• Any player under contract selected by the Supersonics will immediately be placed on the Supersonics roster.

• Any eligible restricted free agent selected by the Supersonics shall immediately become an unrestricted free agent.

• Unrestricted free agents are not eligible to be protected nor are they eligible to be selected by the Supersonics.

B. Pre-Expansion Draft Trades

• Teams will be permitted to enter into pre-Expansion Draft trades involving players or draft picks in which Seattle agrees to select or not select certain unprotected players in return.

C. Salary Cap

• Seattle will be permitted to select players in the Expansion Draft without regard to the Salary Cap.

• Seattle will have a Salary Cap in its first season equal to 66% of the Salary Cap applicable to the rest of the league and a Salary Cap in its second season equal to 75% of the Salary Cap applicable to the rest of the league.

• Seattle will be permitted to sign any restricted free agent it selects in the Expansion Draft using the same "Bird," "Early Bird" or "Non-Bird" Exception that the player’s prior team would have had.

• Compensation paid to a selected player under a contract protected for lack of skill will be excluded from Seattle’s Team Salary if the player’s contract is terminated (via the waiver procedure) prior to the start of the 2004-05 season.

• A team with a Team Salary above the Salary Cap will receive a Trade Exception to replace a player (other than a restricted free agent) selected from its unprotected list.

D. Post-Expansion Draft Transactions

• A team will not be permitted to reacquire a player that it loses in the Expansion Draft prior to the expiration of one year from the date of the Expansion Draft, unless the player is waived and not claimed by any other team.

Basically only A matters as the rest is stuff that only matters if your team exists! With that, here's my opinion of the 8 players each team would protect. I mostly used the best 8 players by NBA 2k15's player ratings, as that would give a decent general picture of each team, but adjusted a few for potential as well (ie Noah Vonleh is lower than Biyombo, Charlotte protects Vonleh over Biyombo)

• Atlanta Hawks
  • 8 protected: Horford, Millsap, Teague, Payne, Carroll, Korver, Schroder, Sefalosha
  • Notable unprotected: Kent Bazemore, Mike Scott, Shelvin Mack
• Boston Celtics
  • 8 protected: Rondo, Bradley, Sullinger, Smart, Thornton, Olynyk, Turner, Young
  • Notable unprotected: Jeff Green, Tyler Zeller, Faverani
• Brooklyn Nets
  • 8 protected: Williams, Johnson, Lopez, Plumlee, Kirilenko, Bogdanovic, Jarrett Jack, Anderson
  • Notable unprotected: KG, Teletovic
• Charlotte Hornets
  • 8 protected: Kemba, Lance, Big Al, Vonleh, MKG, Cody Zeller, Hairston, Henderson
  • Notable unprotected: Gary Neal, Brian Roberts, Marvin Williams, Bismack
• Chicago Bulls
  • 8 protected: Derrick Rose, Joakim, Pau, Taj, Butler, McBuckets, Mirotic, Hinrich
  • Notable unprotected: Dunleavy, Snell
• Cleveland Cavaliers
  • 8 protected: Lebron, Love, Kyrie, Dion, Tristan, Varejao, Miller, Marion
  • Notable unprotected: James Jones?
• Dallas Mavericks
  • 8 protected: Dirk, Monta, Chandler (Tyson), Chandler (Parsons), Jameer, Harris, Wright
  • Notable unprotected: Barea, Felton, Aminu
• Denver Nuggets
  • 8 protected: Lawson, Faried, Gallinari, Afflalo, Chandler, Mozgov, Harris, Nate Robinson
  • Notable unprotected: McGee, Foye, Nurkic
    • I'll add that this one was really hard to do. All three of their unprotected guys would probably be protected on the other teams, especially Nurkic. But I digress
• Detroit Pistons
  • 8 protected: Drummond, Smith, Jennings, Monroe, Butler, Augustin, Meeks, KCP
  • Notable unprotected: Singler, Jerebko
• Golden State Warriors
  • 8 protected: Steph, Klay, Iggy, Bogut, Lee, Barnes, Green, Livingston
  • Notable unprotected: Marreese Speights
• Houston Rockets
  • 8 protected: Harden, Howard, Beverley, Ariza, Jones, Canaan, Daniels, Adrien
  • Notable unprotected: D-Mo, Gee, Ish Smith
• Indiana Pacers
  • 8 protected: PG, Hill, Hibbert, West, Mahinmi, Stuckey, Watson, Miles
  • Notable unprotected: Scola, Copeland
• LA Clippers
  • 8 protected: Blake, CP3, DeAndre, Crawford, Barnes, Redick, Hawes, Dudley
  • Notable unprotected: Glen Davis, Jordan Farmar
• LA Lakers
  • 8 protected: Kobe, Lin, Randle, Swaggy, Boozer, Hill, Johnson, Davis (yikes)
  • Notable unprotected: Xavier Henry
• Memphis Grizzlies
  • 8 protected: Gasol, Z-Bo, Conley, Carter, Allen, Lee, Prince, Udrih
  • Notable unprotected: Koufos, Calathes, Stokes, Adams
• Miami Heat
  • 8 protected: Bosh, Wade, Napier, McBob, Deng, Granger, Chalmers, Cole
  • Notable unprotected: Chris Andersen, James Ennis, Udonis Haslem
• Milwaukee Bucks
  • 8 protected: Jabari, Giannis, OJ, Larry Sanders, Ersan, Middleton, Henson, Knight
  • Notable unprotected: Wolters, Bayless, Marshall
• Minnesota Timberwolves
  • 8 protected: Wiggins, Rubio, Bennett, Dieng, Pekovic, Martin, LaVine, Thad Young
  • Notable unprotected: Mo Williams, Brewer, Muhammad, Budinger
• New Orleans Pelicans
  • 8 protected: Davis, Tyreke, Jrue, Omer, Gordon, Anderson, Salmons, Fredette
  • Notable unprotected: Russ Smith, Austin Rivers
• New York Knicks
  • 8 protected: Melo, Jose, JR, Shumpert, Hardaway Jr, Larkin, Early, Amare
  • Notable unprotected: Dalembert, Bargnani
• OKC Thunder
  • 8 protected: Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Adams, Jackson, Collison, McGary
  • Notable unprotected: Lamb, Perkins, Morrow
• Orlando Magic
  • 8 protected: Vucevic, Oladipo, Harris, Payton, Frye, Aaron Gordon, Harkless, Fournier
  • Notable unprotected: Ben Gordon, Ridnour
• Philadelphia 76ers
  • 8 protected: Embiid, Noel, MCW, Saric, Mbah a Moute, Wroten, Richardson, Thompson
  • Notable unprotected: Shved, Williams
• Phoenix Suns
  • 8 protected: Isaiah Thomas, Bledsoe, Dragic, Plumlee, Warren, Meek, Mook, Len
  • Notable unprotected: Green, Tucker, Ennis
    • Same as Nuggets, some of these should probably be protected but the others all need it too
• Portland Trailbazers
  • 8 protected: Aldridge, Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Lopez. Kaman, Robinson, McCollum
  • Notable unprotected: Dorell Wright, Steve Blake, Will Barton
• Sacramento Kings
  • 8 protected: Cousins, Gay, Collison, Stauskas, McLemore, Williams, Thompson, Landry
  • Notable unprotected: Terry, Evans
• San Antonio Spurs
  • 8 protected: Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Leonard, Green, Diaw, Splitter, Mills
  • Notable unprotected: Belinelli, Bonner, Anderson
• Toronto Raptors
  • 8 protected: Lowry, Derozan, Ross, Valanciunas, Patterson, Williams, Amir, Vasquez
  • Notable unprotected: Hansborough, Caboclo, James Johnson
• Utah Jazz
  • 8 protected: Burke, Burks, Exum, Gobert, Hayward, Favors, Kanter, Hood
  • Notable unprotected: Booker
• Washington Wizards
  • 8 protected: Wall, Beal, Gortat, Porter, Rice Jr, Pierce, Nene, Seraphin
  • Notable unprotected: Martell Webster, Humphries

So, there really aren't many half-decent players available for this expansion draft, now are there? The ones who really stand off the page to me as actual established effective players and young players with potential, are pretty few and far between. A good number of these selections will simply be the best pick left, and thats gonna start around the fourth or fifth pick I believe. Anyways, lets get started.
The players who are really worth drafting (aka halfway good) would be:

• Jusuf Nurkic
• Tyler Ennis
• Gerald Green
• Martell Webster
• Javale McGee
• Gary Neal
• Marvin Williams

Unfortunately, six of these players have a teammate on the list, so both cannot be taken. The other "decent" prospects in this draft would be:

• Kent Bazemore
• Mike Scott
• Tyler Zeller
• Vitor Faverani
• Tony Snell
• Al-Farouq Aminu
• Luis Scola
• Jordan Farmar
• James Ennis
• Shabazz Muhammad
• Corey Brewer
• Mo Williams
• Russ Smith
• Jeremy Lamb
• Dorell Wright
• Marco Belinelli
• Bruno Caboclo
• Tyler Hansborough
• Kris Humphries

.....UGH

Anyways, we still gotta figure it out. In my order of 1st to 14th, here are your 2014-2015 Seattle Supersonics.

1. Jusuf Nurkic
2. Tyler Ennis
3. Martell Webster
4. Marvin Williams
5. Mike Scott
6. Marco Belinelli
7. James Ennis
8. Dorell Wright
9. Luis Scola
10. Vitor Faverani
11. Al-Farouq Aminu
12. Russ Smith
13. Mo Williams
14. Bruno Caboclo

These picks might be a little out of order but its the general idea.



Just a little explanation of my clearly amazing GM-work. Tyler Ennis as our point guard of the future, growing under Mo Williams' veteran guidance, and Russ Smith as the extra guard in the mix to help. Plenty of wing players suitable for the 2 or the 3, like Belinelli, James Ennis, Webster, and Wright, as well as plenty of 4/3 players, like Mike Scott, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Bruno Caboclo as that necessary risk, as we have not too many bright spots ahead, gambling is worth it. Our big boys are pretty set too, anchored down by the vets Scola and Williams, hoping Nurkic or Faverani grow into something legitimate.



The players I was sad to miss were Hansborough, Muhammad, Brewer, Green, McGee, Neal, and Tyler Zeller. Those are all guys who could have actually played on our team, excluding maybe Muhammad but he's the prospect pick, and I picked Caboclo ahead of him. Hansborough couldn't be taken because of Caboclo, Zeller because of Faverani, Brewer because of Williams, McGee because of Nurkic, Green because of Ennis, and Neal because of Williams.



All in all, the aforementioned team would probably win about as many games as the Philadelphia 76ers, if not less because we'd be in the Western conference. The good news is that we'd get a nice, juicy lotto pick for next year. That, and Ray Allen could come back to us, he's still a free agent. Then KD comes kinda-home in 2015 and suddenly we're contenders in 5 years.