No matter what happens Wednesday at the NBA ownership meetings that include a vote to open up expansion bids in Seattle and Las Vegas, the history and memorabilia of the Seattle Sonics will stay in Seattle—despite what some Thunder fans and beat writers have tried to claim lately.
@SteveThunderMan, whose Twitter says he lives in Seattle, posted the Thunder “do not have to” give over the 1979 Larry O’Brien trophy, 12-foot hand-painted banners, retired jerseys and other memorabilia, including a screen shot of the settlement between the City of Seattle and now-Thunder owner Clay Bennett.
Even the team’s beat writer is getting in on trend, posting in what some may describe as rage-bait, “Does OKC gift it back to Seattle, when it technically doesn’t have to, when you look at the nitty-gritty of the original contract details?”
Dear reader, KIRO7 not only looked at the nitty-gritty of the details, but we also went to one of the lawyers who crafted the settlement, Paul Lawrence.
Lawrence represented Seattle in a lawsuit against Bennett for breaking the final two years of the team’s lease at Key Arena in order to move the team to Oklahoma City.
“I feel confident, for what it’s worth, that we would have won the litigation,” Lawrence said.
While the trial was going his direction, where the team was headed was not. Seeing the writing on the wall that Bennett would move after the lease was up had they been ordered to complete it, the City settled getting multi-million dollar payments from Bennett in the years following. In the settlement, Lawrence and the team wrote a provision that money could put no price on—the memorabilia of the team’s history.
The settlement, still on Seattle’s website, says, “if the NBA grants approval for a new NBA team to be located in Seattle...upon request of the owner of the new NBA team to be located in Seattle, it will transfer at no cost all right, title and interest in the Intellectual Property to such new owner.”
“It was extraordinarily important both because of that history and, I think, we felt it was an extra incentive to ensure that a team could come back to Seattle,” Lawrence said.
The settlement, which Bennett signed, states that all of the gear be held at MOHAI. The Thunder still controls the collection, even pictures MOHAI sent KIRO7 of the gear at its storage facility, which needed the team’s permission to be shared. The only question, outside of the NBA owners’ vote, is if they will request the original pieces. Both teams, if a new one is created, can refer to a “shared history” of Seattle’s oldest professional sports franchise.
“Oklahoma City may, if they want, refer to their team’s shared history with the Sonics. They have a right to replicate things, but they don’t have a right to anything original.”
There remains one more claim from the OKC crowd that needs to be addressed. In the aforementioned OKCThunderwire clickbait story, OKC beat reporter Clemente Almanza says, “If they want their Sonics’ history back, an apology is in order. That’s what happens when you have nearly two decades of misguided anger.”
His claim is Sonics faithful should be mad at Howard Shultz, which many are, claiming Sonics fans should have known Bennett would have gone back on his word to Shultz about keeping the team in Seattle. An argument as faulty as the Key Arena foundation (before its renovation) in Lawrence’s eyes.
“Whatever the motivations of Howard Schultz in selling the team, Clay Bennett told Howard that he was not going to move the team.” Lawrence said, “Yet the day after the sale went through, the first thing he did was set dates for the team to use the new Oklahoma City Stadium. So if anyone owes an apology, it’s Clay Bennett and the Oklahoma City.”
©2026 Cox Media Group
