Yes, the Sonics history stayed in Seattle.
Employees at the Museum of History & Industry unroll a 1995-1996 Seattle Sonics Western Conference Champions banner preserved at the museum. For years, it has been speculated that Clay Bennett and company took all the green and gold jerseys, banners, and trophies with him to Oklahoma City.Bennett gave special permission to KOMO News to view the Sonics collection, which has been preserved and maintained right here in Seattle .
“It was a deal we made with the Thunder that we'd take care of and preserve it. It may have been part of the sale, but we weren't going to see it leave our city,” said Leonard Garfield, the Executive Director of the Museum of History and Industry, or MOHAI. Inside a nondescript, climate-controlled storage center are all the artifacts. MOHAI has 27 banners, ranging from championship flags to retired uniforms. There are practice shoes, team photos, and little-known trophies that are also in the collection. Bennett never showed interest in taking them with him.“I think the Thunder understood that the Sonics really are part of Seattle's history. They're really our team.
As of right now, there are no plans to pull the artifacts out of storage. The 1979 Championship Trophy is viewable in a glass enclosure inside MOHAI., that the league would address expansion “this season”. The league is believed to have Seattle at the top of the list, with an NBA-ready facility in Climate Pledge Arena. Bennett’s agreement to allow the filming of the artifacts comes after another report that heof blocking the rebranding of a new franchise.
“Ultimately, the goal is to share this again with the community, and if the team came back, boy, we would be out there really celebrating not only the future of the Sonics in Seattle but celebrating their past as well,” he said.
Seattle Memorabilia MOHAI Clay Bennett Artifacts NBA Championship
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