Oklahoma City Thunder · Franchise era 2 of 6
The post-title Sonics: the Oklahoma City Thunder story
Franchise era
1979–80—1989–90
The post-title Sonics
Oklahoma City Thunder
The story in one sentence
Seattle remained dangerous and found elite scoring, though it could not reconstruct the title formula.
01
Sikma bridges to a new generation
02
Jack Sikma, Dale Ellis and Tom Chambers gave the era its recognizable core.
03
Its ending created the conditions for payton, kemp and seattle's final years.
Timeline
How it unfolded
Before 1979–80
What came before
After an uneven first decade, the SuperSonics reached consecutive Finals and won the 1979 championship.
1980
Western Conference Semifinals: Seattle SuperSonics vs Milwaukee Bucks
1980
Western Conference Finals: Seattle SuperSonics vs Los Angeles Lakers
1987
Western Conference Finals: Seattle SuperSonics vs Los Angeles Lakers
After 1989–90
What came next
Payton and Kemp led a 64-win finalist before the roster evolved around Allen and the franchise ultimately left Seattle.
The core