With the city of Seattle, Wash. getting a National Hockey League (NHL) team that will start playing during the 2021-22 season, many basketball fans are asking for the National Basketball Association (NBA) to return to Seattle.

The NBA should give Seattle a team because NBA players want the NBA to come back to Seattle and an expansion draft would take place, increasing the parity of the league.

Seattle has a rich history in the NBA with the once famed Seattle SuperSonics who competed from 1969 until 2008, winning a championship in 1979. But in the 2008 offseason the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City, Okla. and were renamed the Thunder, and Seattle has not had a team since.

Many NBA players have expressed their interest in Seattle having an NBA team again. Former SuperSonics player and current Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant expressed interest in ownership during an ESPN interview on Dec 5 2018.

“Of course I would love to own a team in Seattle,” Durant said.

Additional basketball stars including hall of famer Dwayne Wade have been interested in moving a team to Seattle upon ownership of an NBA team, according to the Shadow League sports coverage website.

A Seattle team would result in an expansion draft which is a very exciting moment for NBA fans. When an expansion draft happens, every team protects eight players from being drafted and once one player is drafted, the team is secure and no other player from that team can be drafted.

Thirteen rounds of the draft would take place and a full NBA team would be made after the draft. This would create more parity in the league because there would be more teams in the league and therefore, more contenders for an NBA title.

Many well-known sports websites like Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated and The Score have argued that even if the powerhouse Golden State Warriors lost one of their players, they would still be way too good and easily win the championship.

However, an expansion draft will result in two teams having an expansion draft because NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said if he were to add NBA teams to the league, he would add two teams to make the league even at 32 teams. The two expansion drafts will create even more parity in the league and make the NBA far more exciting.

Since 2008, the NBA has been trying to reconnect with a Seattle fan base by having pre-season games in Seattle, but nothing will connect that base more than bringing an NBA team back to Seattle.

Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are the names that come up when one thinks of Seattle basketball, and those great players’ legacies are being tarnished since there is no team in Seattle. To keep those legacies intact, there needs to be an NBA team back in Seattle, and it needs to happen soon.

Seattle is a city with many great basketball moments and even an NBA title. To have keep these memories fresh for fans, basketball needs to return to Seattle.