NBA reportedly schedules Warriors-Kings preseason game in Seattle
Feb 21, 2018, 3:43 PM | Updated: Feb 22, 2018, 12:32 am
Former Sonics star Kevin Durant's Warriors will reportedly play a preseason game in Seattle. (AP)
(AP)
The NBA will make a return to Seattle in 2018 by hosting a preseason game in the city, according to a report by Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee.
Voisin reports that the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors will hold an exhibition game on Oct. 6 in Seattle, and while a contract for the game has not yet been completed, it is considered a formality.
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KeyArena, the former home of the Sonics, will be the site, according to Voisin. That means the game could very well could be one of the final events held in KeyArena before the Oak View Group closes down the building and breaks ground on a new one at the same site, something that would be entirely ironic considering the NBA deemed KeyArena unsuitable for the Seattle Sonics before the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The reported preseason game in Seattle could be the NBA testing out the viability of a new team in Seattle when the Seattle Center arena is completed.
OVG Seattle has made much more headway to this point with the NHL, as it has a group in the process of trying to secure to an expansion NHL franchise to play in the new arena at Seattle Center. They have a target date of starting play in the NHL in the 2020-21 season, though the NHL has yet to make an official decision on an expansion team in Seattle.
The two NBA teams set to play in Seattle are interesting choices. The Kings were nearly bought and moved to Seattle by a group that included both Chris Hansen and current Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer in 2013, but the NBA eventually ruled to keep the franchise in Sacramento. The Warriors, meanwhile, include Kevin Durant, who played his rookie season in Seattle before the Sonics were moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder.
