After he tossed a strike right down the middle to M’s shortstop J.P. Crawford, “The Glove” eventually made his way to the broadcast booth. And as you might expect, the conversation turned to the potential of a Sonics return as an NBA expansion franchise.
Payton remains not just optimistic but sure that the Sonics will once again take the court at the arena in Seattle Center.
“Are we going to get the Sonics back real soon?” asked Rick Rizzs, the longtime radio voice of the Mariners on Seattle Sports.
“Absolutely. We’ve gotta be patient,” Payton said. “We shouldn’t have ever lost our Sonics, and it was bad. But this is an organization and a business. It has to be the right moment and right situation.”
The NBA expanding from 30 teams to 32 has long been speculated, with Seattle and Las Vegas the most likely landing spots for the league. And it seemed everything was on track when the league completed a massive new media rights deal last summer, which was believed to be the last hurdle that needed to be cleared before expansion.
And then another one suddenly appeared: the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics were put up for sale.
Has NBA hit brakes on Seattle Sonics expansion? What an ESPN insider says
That presumably gave the NBA the opportunity to reset the market for any expansion franchises. But while it was announced last month that the Celtics are being sold for a record initial valuation of $6.1 billion, Silver didn’t tip his hand last week when he spoke to reporters at an NBA Board of Governors meeting when he was asked about expansion, saying there were “no new developments.”
That’s not stopping Payton from making plans for a Sonics return.
When Mariners broadcaster Gary Hill Jr. addressed Payton’s own No. 20 eventually being retired by a new Sonics team, he turned the spotlight instead to a pair of former All-Star teammates.
“I’m gonna be a big part of it when it comes back, and my first thing I’m gonna do is I’m gonna retire Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp’s numbers,” Payton said. “You guys know about me and everything and that’ll be a big moment and a big thing, but I really want to get these guys really, really straight, because they were a big part of that. There was no Gary Payton if there wasn’t Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp.”
sports.mynorthwest.com
Payton remains not just optimistic but sure that the Sonics will once again take the court at the arena in Seattle Center.
“Are we going to get the Sonics back real soon?” asked Rick Rizzs, the longtime radio voice of the Mariners on Seattle Sports.
“Absolutely. We’ve gotta be patient,” Payton said. “We shouldn’t have ever lost our Sonics, and it was bad. But this is an organization and a business. It has to be the right moment and right situation.”
The NBA expanding from 30 teams to 32 has long been speculated, with Seattle and Las Vegas the most likely landing spots for the league. And it seemed everything was on track when the league completed a massive new media rights deal last summer, which was believed to be the last hurdle that needed to be cleared before expansion.
And then another one suddenly appeared: the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics were put up for sale.
Has NBA hit brakes on Seattle Sonics expansion? What an ESPN insider says
That presumably gave the NBA the opportunity to reset the market for any expansion franchises. But while it was announced last month that the Celtics are being sold for a record initial valuation of $6.1 billion, Silver didn’t tip his hand last week when he spoke to reporters at an NBA Board of Governors meeting when he was asked about expansion, saying there were “no new developments.”
That’s not stopping Payton from making plans for a Sonics return.
When Mariners broadcaster Gary Hill Jr. addressed Payton’s own No. 20 eventually being retired by a new Sonics team, he turned the spotlight instead to a pair of former All-Star teammates.
“I’m gonna be a big part of it when it comes back, and my first thing I’m gonna do is I’m gonna retire Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp’s numbers,” Payton said. “You guys know about me and everything and that’ll be a big moment and a big thing, but I really want to get these guys really, really straight, because they were a big part of that. There was no Gary Payton if there wasn’t Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp.”
Gary Payton remains sure Seattle Sonics will make return to NBA
Seattle Sonics legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton talked about the likelihood of a new NBA expansion team with the Mariners radio crew.
sports.mynorthwest.com
