Six-time NBA All-Star Shawn Kemp shared stories about his years playing on the Seattle SuperSonics in a heartfelt essay for The Players’ Tribune this week. Kemp was on the Sonics from 1989-97 and said he sincerely hopes the league returns to Seattle one day.
After talking about still living in Seattle, what it was like entering the NBA as a 19-year-old kid in ’89 and how amazing it was to see Gary Payton talking trash to everyone, including Michael Jordan, Kemp closed with this statement:
I’m still out here in Seattle, man. I’ve been married 23 years now. Gone from spending all of my time on the road to being a husband and father. I’ve watched the city change so much, but it’s still got the same passionate fans, and it’s still a city that loves basketball, even without a real team to root for. Since the day I arrived, I have been treated so well by the people here. And the love lasted much longer than my career. I was welcomed back with open arms as soon as my playing days were over.
Basketball has taken me all over the world, and after seeing so much over so many years, I can say with absolute certainty that there’s nowhere else in this world I’d rather be.
But something is not right. Something’s missing. We need the Sonics back.
So many great sports moments have happened here. So many legends of the game have had their moments in Seattle. I know that the NBA bringing in a new team now might be a mess, but it just feels off here without the Sonics.
I believe it’ll happen — we will have a team again someday. I don’t know when, or how, but I feel it. Basketball will come back to Seattle.
And I’ll still be here when it does.
Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and former Sonic Ray Allen have also shared messages about how badly they want pro basketball back in Seattle. In 2016, Wilson said in his Players’ Tribune piece that he partnered with Sonics Arena Group to try to bring both the NBA and NHL to the city.
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