Re: Owners Of NHL's Kraken Considered 'Heavy Favorites' To Be Awarded Seattle's NBA Franchise

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 1:53 am

If the NBA expands to Seattle, the ownership group of the NHL's Seattle Kraken are heavy favorites to be awarded the franchise, reports Bloomberg. The Kraken are owned by David Bonderman and his daughter Samantha Holloway. Bonderman is the founding partner of TPG Capital.

Climate Pledge Arena, home of the Kraken, is reportedly NBA ready if they are awarded a franchise. The arena will host a preseason game this October, which will be the third straight year they have done so.

“We built the arena in a very, very specific way to accommodate basketball,” Kraken President Tod Leiweke has said of the renovated facility. “We spent a lot of time because we knew there was another big moment coming in the NBA.”

Bloomberg also reported that the expansion fee for the NBA could be between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Via Randall Williams, Kim Bhasin/Bloomberg

the_process · Post #2 » by **the_process** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 2:01 am

Give the Sonics back their history from the Thunder as well and retroactively make the Thunder an expansion team.

It will be good to have the Sonics back in the NBA.

tigerae · Post #3 » by **tigerae** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 4:00 am

the_process wrote:Give the Sonics back their history from the Thunder as well and retroactively make the Thunder an expansion team.

It will be good to have the Sonics back in the NBA.

They will definitely give the Sonics back their history, but the Thunder won't become the expansion team. Similar to how the Hornets got their name back when the New Orleans Pelicans decided to change their name. The Hornets were given back all of their history and records.

deeps6x · Post #4 » by **deeps6x** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 3:17 pm

Who are the heavy favorites to be awarded Vancouver's NBA Franchise? They want one more then Seattle.

the_process · Post #5 » by **the_process** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 6:59 pm

tigerae wrote:
the_process wrote:Give the Sonics back their history from the Thunder as well and retroactively make the Thunder an expansion team.

It will be good to have the Sonics back in the NBA.

They will definitely give the Sonics back their history, but the Thunder won't become the expansion team. Similar to how the Hornets got their name back when the New Orleans Pelicans decided to change their name. The Hornets were given back all of their history and records.

Yes the Hornets got their name back and their history. And New Orleans records now show they were an expansion team that started in 2002 instead of a relocation.

Same thing will be true for Oklahoma City except the year will be 2008. That's all I meant.

Pickled Prunes · Post #6 » by **Pickled Prunes** » Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:40 pm

deeps6x wrote:Who are the heavy favorites to be awarded Vancouver's NBA Franchise? They want one more then Seattle.

Vancouver has already proven that they can't support an NBA franchise. It would take an expansion team 10+ years and some reasonable success to have half the fans that a new Sonics franchise would have on day 1.