Seattle-area basketball fans tuning in to the opening episodes of ESPN's "The Last Dance" Sunday night hoping for a much-welcomed sports diversion were instead dealt what might have seemed like an unnecessary and unexpected dagger to the heart.
Or, depending on your age, maybe even an entirely new lesson in some unfortunate Seattle basketball history.
Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen was really a Sonic for a little while?
Yes he was, as the second episode of "The Last Dance," which details Michael Jordan's final season with the Bulls, made painstakingly clear a few minutes in, showing the famous (infamous?) photo of Pippen in a Sonics hat during the 1987 NBA draft.
Turns out, the Bulls' 1997-98 season, which is the subject of the 10-episode series, was also Pippen's last season with the Bulls (other than a return for a few games at the end of his career), and the second episode focused heavily on his contract squabble with the team that led to his eventual departure, which in turn led to chronicling how Pippen became a Bull in the first place.
Which led to the picture of Pippen in a Sonics hat.
Yes, the Sonics really did draft Pippen and then trade him to the Bulls, and yes the team came to greatly regret that move.
But as is almost always the case in these things, it's a little more complicated than simply saying all Seattle got was Olden Polynice _ a center who would average 7.8 points in his career and just five points in five seasons with the Sonics _ in return.
So, consider this a refresher on how Pippen briefly was a Sonic in 1987 _ as well as the maybe more-forgotten story of how he almost became a Sonic again a few years later.
