Seattle sports fans were left out to dry when the Seattle SuperSonics rebranded and left for Oklahoma City in 2008. So it shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise to see that Seattle locals may be a bit bitter after seeing the Thunder bring an NBA championship to Oklahoma City.
The victory for the Thunder isn’t the first in the organization’s history, if you include the history of the Seattle SuperSonics, who hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 1979.
And while some Seattle sports fans likely felt some joy in seeing their former franchise reclaim glory on Sunday night, Aaron Levine, the Sports Director at KPCQ Fox 13 in Seattle, was not one of them.
Reporting on the Thunder’s victory on Fox 13’s Seattle Sports Live sports rundown, Levine briefly mentioned how it was “unfortunate” that the Pacers lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals, before shifting to how the Seattle Sounders have a game on Monday.
“Finally tonight, unfortunately, the Indiana Pacers lose Game 7 of the NBA Finals,” said Levine. “Big game for the (Seattle) Sounders tomorrow, we will see you out at Lumen Field.”
It’s a masterclass in pettiness from Levine. No mention whatsoever of the Thunder organization. No mention of how the organization used to be in Seattle. No highlights from the game. No mention that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had taken home the NBA Finals MVP Award. Just a brief mention that the game happened and that the Pacers had lost.
To be fair to Levine, it’s not like the Thunder organization has embraced their former home all that much since leaving for Oklahoma City. In fact, Clay Bennett, the chairman of Professional Basketball Club LLC, the ownership group of the Thunder, blatantly lied to Seattle sports fans about any potential move to another city.
In 2006, Bennett told fans that the ownership group would “make a good-faith effort” to keep the Sonics in Seattle. A year later, once the deal was finalized to move to Oklahoma City, he would completely contradict those comments, saying that his group “didn’t buy the team to keep it in Seattle”.
Seattle sports fans certainly don’t owe the Thunder organization their support based on how the move from Seattle to Oklahoma City went down. And perhaps unsurprisingly, many fellow Seattle sports fans largely agreed with Levine’s stance about rooting for the Pacers in the series.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.