Oklahoma City Thunder · Franchise era 1 of 6
Seattle builds a champion: the Oklahoma City Thunder story
Franchise era
1967–68—1978–79
Seattle builds a champion
Oklahoma City Thunder
The story in one sentence
After an uneven first decade, the SuperSonics reached consecutive Finals and won the 1979 championship.
Sikma, Williams and the 1979 title
Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson and Jack Sikma gave the era its recognizable core.
Its ending created the conditions for the post-title sonics.
Timeline
How it unfolded
The foundation
The franchise context
The franchise line joins Seattle's 1979 title and Payton–Kemp teams to Oklahoma City's extraordinary Durant–Westbrook rise and a second homegrown contender built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
1978
Western Conference Finals: Seattle SuperSonics vs Denver Nuggets
1978
NBA Finals: Seattle SuperSonics vs Washington Bullets
1979
NBA Finals: Seattle SuperSonics vs Washington Bullets
After 1978–79
What came next
Seattle remained dangerous and found elite scoring, though it could not reconstruct the title formula.
The core