page_title: Seattle SuperSonics
section_title: 1998–2008: A decade of struggles
hierarchical_section_title: Seattle SuperSonics / Franchise history / 1998–2008: A decade of struggles
caption_attribution_description: English: Seattle Supersonics Vin Baker
context_page_description: The Seattle SuperSonics, commonly known as the Sonics, were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington. The SuperSonics played in the National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Western Conference Pacific and Northwest divisions from 1967 until 2008. After the 2007–08 season ended, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and now plays as the Oklahoma City Thunder.
  Sam Schulman owned the team from its 1967 inception until 1983. It was then owned by Barry Ackerley, and then Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks chairman emeritus, former president and CEO Howard Schultz. On July 18, 2006, the Basketball Club of Seattle sold the SuperSonics and its Women's National Basketball Association sister franchise Seattle Storm to the Professional Basketball Club LLC, headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. The sale was approved by the NBA Board of Governors on October 24, 2006, and finalized on October 31, 2006, at which point the new ownership group took control.
context_section_description: The 1998–99 season saw the SuperSonics struggle. Westphal was fired, after the team started the 2000–01 season 6–9, and replaced by then-assistant coach Nate McMillan on an interim basis, who was then retained as permanent head coach in February 2001. The 2002–03 season saw All-Star Payton traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, and it also marked the end to the SuperSonics' 11-year streak of having a season with a winning percentage of at least .500, the second longest current streak in the NBA at the time.
  The 2004–05 team surprised many when it won the organization's sixth division title under the leadership of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, winning 52 games and defeating the Sacramento Kings to advance to the 2005 Western Conference Semifinals. The Sonics would proceed to lose in 6 games to the established trio of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginóbili and the San Antonio Spurs, who subsequently defeated the Detroit Pistons in the 2005 NBA Finals. This appearance also marked the last time that this incarnation of the SuperSonics would make the playoffs. During the off-season in 2005, head coach McMillan left the Sonics to accept a high-paying position to coach the Portland Trail Blazers. After his departure, the team regressed the following season with a 35–47 record.
caption: Vin Baker was an NBA All-Star with the SuperSonics during the 1997–98 season.
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