The NBA is back in Seattle. But where are the SuperSonics?

The National Basketball Association is back in Seattle – for one night only. The third annual Rain City Showcase will be held at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m

The “home team” for the third year in a row is the Los Angeles Clippers, owned by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The Portland Trail Blazers, owned by the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and operated by his sister Jody, are the away team.

Technically it's a home game for the Clippers, but most spectators will be wearing Seattle SuperSonics gear.

The SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City 16 years ago, but the pain of losing a sports team is still felt by many Seattleites.

Kenji Onozawa has had an account on X (formerly Twitter) called @SeattleSonics for 16 years. Onozawa told KUOW that although his family moved to Japan a few years ago, a return to SuperSonics could also mean his return.

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“It really got me thinking: How do we move? What do we need to achieve this? I talk like these are years of my life. “It's been 15, 16 years of just tweeting about this team and being a fan, even longer,” Onozawa said.

There are indications that the SuperSonics could be back sooner rather than later.

The NBA finalized an 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal this summer, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly said the expansion is the next big step after the deal.

KOMO-TV reporter Chris Daniels told KUOW that we could hear about the NBA's return to Washington late this year or the middle of next year.

But there is a team in the NBA that is currently up for sale and that could complicate the process.

“The (Boston) Celtics could be the most expensive NBA franchise of all time in terms of purchasing and are currently for sale,” Daniels said. “That's one of those variables that may be holding back expansion right now, to get a valuation of this franchise and its value. That could actually dictate the price of any type of expansion team.”

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Daniels said the NBA may wait until after the Celtics are sold to set an expansion price because it risks losing billions of dollars if it undervalues ​​an expansion fee.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at the league's annual board meeting in September that expansion was “not a topic of discussion” but that the league planned to discuss the topic at some point this season.

The current NBA season runs through June 2025, so the news may not be available immediately, but the NBA is closer than ever to a potential return to Seattle.

Chris Daniels, who reported on the SuperSonics move before the team actually left, told KUOW that he's excited to finally tell people when the team comes back.

“For the people who ask me about this in all walks of life – and it’s not just sports fans – I just want to finish the story. And it sounds like we’re closer to writing that final chapter than we were five years ago,” Daniels said.

Listen to Seattle Now's full story on if and when the Supersonics might return to Seattle.