Back in 2008, the city of Seattle lost their NBA team with the Supersonics leaving to Oklahoma City and becoming the Thunder.
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Unfortunately for Seattle, the Thunder almost immediately became a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden coming into their own.
On Sunday, Kobe Bryant made his way up to Seattle, Washington to participate in Richard Sherman’s celebrity softball game. Kobe talked about favoring the city of Seattle over Oklahoma, according to TulsaWorld.com:
“I’ve always enjoyed coming here. I’d much rather come here in the postseason than Oklahoma,” Bryant said.
Kobe played more than half of his career with the Supersonics playing in Seattle. The five-time NBA champion had plenty of battles with players like Gary Payton in Seattle and obviously still likes the city more than Oklahoma City.
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Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers have faced Durant’s Thunder on more than one occasion in the playoffs since the move to Oklahoma City. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, Durant and company have gotten the best of Kobe’s Lakers in their last meeting in the postseason with Oklahoma City beating Los Angeles convincingly (4-1) in five games back in 2012 during the Western Conference Semifinals.
Recently, the Sacramento Kings came extremely close to being moved to Seattle. Although it appeared to be only a matter of time before the Kings would head up north, things fell apart with DeMarcus Cousins and company remaining in California’s capitol.
Despite a failed attempt to bring a team back to Seattle, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the NBA will return to the city in the near future.
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