What we know about the Sonics' potential return after Celtics' sale

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Mar 22, 2025

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SEATTLE — The NBA has danced around the topic of expansion for more than a year, with occasional steps forward and more than a few times where the conversation has come to a halt.

Thanks to the agreed-upon sale of the Boston Celtics on Thursday, the league may finally be ready to go all-in on embracing the talk of adding one or two teams to the league and seeing where Seattle stands in the discussion.

It’s not going to happen immediately and the process likely won’t be at a pace to the liking of fans who have longed for the return of the SuperSonics. But several issues have been settled and created a situation where moving forward on the topic seems it could happen soon.

Here’s a rundown of where things stand:

What happened in Boston?

The current owners of the Celtics reached agreement with a group led by Bill Chisholm for a sale process at a valuation of $6.1 billion, a record for a pro sports franchise in North America.

One of the benchmark franchises in the league being up for sale was an unexpected twist in the expansion saga and delayed the NBA moving forward on discussing the possibility of adding teams.

Why the Celtics’ sale matters?

The Celtics’ sale was the last major piece of financial business the league needed to settle. Two years ago, the NBA reached a new collective bargaining agreement with the players and last year finalized a landmark media rights deal that’ll pay out $76 billion over the next 11 years.

The sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves seems to be closer to completion after an arbitration panel ruled in February in favor of the new owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.

The Celtics’ sale was the one lingering piece that was unresolved and perhaps more importantly than the status of the franchise being settled, it gives the league a current franchise valuation for which an expansion fee could be based off. Before the agreement on the Celtics, the last sale of an NBA franchise was the Phoenix Suns at a valuation of $4 billion.

It seems like the midpoint between the sales of the Suns and Celtics could be a smart figure for a potential expansion fee. Maybe a little lower. But if NBA owners are about to divide up their pie by one or two more pieces, they’re going to want every cent they can from the new guests at the table.

What are the next steps?

The NBA owners — the Board of Governors — are scheduled to meet before the end of the regular season, potentially as early as next week. While it’s unclear if expansion will be addressed, the Celtics situation progressing at least opens up the topic for potential conversation. It could be the topic is held for after the season. Last year, the Board of Governors met during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in July.

Whenever the topic is broached, it won’t be a rubber stamp. There is likely to be significant debate among the owners as to whether now is the time to expand, especially with some concerns about the talent pool and how adding one or two more teams could impact the bottom line for some teams. In other words, some owners may have to be convinced that expansion is worthwhile for themselves and the league.

In a similar way to how the NHL handled expansion with the Kraken, it could be the NBA wants a gauge of just how much interest there is in Seattle and other markets before the plans move forward. A season-ticket drive might be an expected progression.

What is Seattle’s situation?

Nothing markedly has changed. The Kraken ownership group, led by Samantha Holloway, is expected to pursue expansion when the NBA says it’s ready to examine the topic. Holloway said in a statement Thursday that, “we will always be respectful of the Commissioner’s process and timeline.”

There continues to be some uncertainty if another possible ownership group could come forward to compete with Holloway and create a bidding process. The NBA wouldn’t mind that as it could drive the expansion fee higher or force some other financial concessions.

When is tipoff?

There’s no guarantee anywhere in this process, so tipoff may never come. But if the league moves forward and starts the expansion clock either this spring or sometime this summer, there’s no reason to think the 2027-28 season is out of the question at this time.