Quite a few members of the wider Boston Celtics family have ties to the Pacific Northwest, from Bill Russell, Dennis Johnson and Bill Walton up to Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and many others.
With rumbles of expansion rippling through the league and Commissioner Adam Silver strongly hinting that adding teams to the NBA is just beyond the process of wrapping up a new media rights deal, a return of the NBA to the state of Washington seems the most logical next step to take.
One person interested in seeing a revived Seattle SuperSonics franchise is former Celtics defensive menace Gary Payton, Sr., who recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Landon Buford about such a prospect and Silver’s words to such an end. “Silver is great as a commissioner, he knows what he’s talking about,” related Payton.
“We have already done the collective bargaining agreement; now we have to deal with the TV deal, which will be next year,” he continued.
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“I think we have got a good chance of getting (an NBA team in Seattle) back in 2025-26, and it will be there,” the former Celtics guard suggested.
“I’m not worried about that. I think Seattle is the first one on the list of getting an expansion team, and it should be that way.”
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