Everyone rooting for the Sonics to return has a reason: the team was stolen, childhood nostalgia, it's good for business, Seattle is a basketball town.
You'll hear those reasons more often, and likely louder with each passing month as NBA expansion talks point to a clearer return of Seattle's lost franchise.
Six-time NBA All-Star and Sonics legend Shawn Kemp has his reason, too.
It's good for the community," Kemp said in Pioneer Square on Monday.
Seattle is a different city than the one 19-year-old Kemp came to back in 1989, and the NBA is much different from how it was nearly 18 years ago when it left Seattle. But to Kemp, Seattle is still a basketball town (despite lacking one obvious thing) and he believes the Sonics will return. His primary excitement isn't for the league; it's for the local community that he said will benefit greatly from having an NBA team back in Seattle.
Kemp credits the Sonics for showing him the value of engaging with the local community — something he views as a cornerstone of his life now. In 2023, Kemp was arrested after he shot at two men in the Tacoma Mall parking lot. He was convicted of second-degree assault last August, avoiding jail time with a sentence of 30 days of home monitoring and 240 hours of community service.
Kemp reflected on the event in a recent interview with The Seattle Times, saying it prompted self-reflection and motivated him to encourage others to "live life correctly."
Kemp and the Reign Man Foundation plan to host a 1v1 hoops tournament at the Seattle Vintage Fair on May 9. Sitting on a bar stool in the Throwbacks NW Stadium Collective on Monday, Kemp pointed to the green Vintage Fair poster.
“I think it’s always important when you have a name, and it’s recognized, to stay involved with the community at different levels,” Kemp said.
It's not unusual to see Kemp out and about in Seattle. He owns two pot shops, Shawn Kemp's Cannabis, in Sodo and Belltown, and often catches people off-guard in local parks or on bike paths when he's out on a walk. This is the second year that Kemp is working with the organizers of the Seattle Vintage Fair.
“I look at it as these guys letting me join their forces to be a part of them to reach out to the community to encourage people to have fun, live life correctly and to enjoy themselves in a positive way,” Kemp said.
The second part of the message is particularly important to Kemp, who hopes he can use his actions in the 2023 shooting to teach others, especially the youth, about the important of being in change of your emotions.
In the Tacoma Mall incident, Kemp pleaded guilty to shooting at two men inside an SUV. None of the rounds hit anyone, according to court documents. During the trial, Kemp said it was an act of self-defense in response to shots fired by one of the men inside the SUV. Prosecutors argued there was no evidence either of the men fired at Kemp first.
The judge agreed with Kemp's lawyers that the two men had provoked the shooting by stealing Kemp's truck, cellphone and memorabilia which he tracked to the Tacoma Mall using an app on the stolen phone.
"I always tell myself, man, imagine how many guys that had to go to jail that's made a split-second decision," Kemp said. "I think for me, it's just making that aware to kids and younger people. To always, whether you're young or you're old, make sure that you're on top of your emotions."
Kemp said the period around the arrest and trial prompted self-reflection, which including losing 130 pounds. He believes that process will "continually go on for quite some time."
"I mean, trust me, I've been through a lot growing up and coming to the NBA, but I never thought I'd be in a situation like that," Kemp said. "It was just amazing to me how one second can change things for you."
Kemp explained he's forced himself to get out and continue being present in the community since the trial.
"It was unfortunate, but we have to deal with those decisions that we make," he said. "So that was a decision that I made, to use a weapon, and I have to deal with that the best way possible."
The experience has motivated Kemp to help educate others in the hopes of equipping people with the skills to avoid a similar situation. But it's also made him want to show people in Seattle and beyond who he is.
"If you're a good person, you realize that you just got to keep going," he said. "You got to put one foot in front of the other, keep going, and the people see who you are."
Kemp's image has long been associated with the Sonics and Seattle sports. The 56-year-old described his involvement with potential ownership groups as "very minor," though he confidently affirmed he believes the Sonics are coming back.
"It's long overdue," Kemp said. "I think, yeah, it's time. I think something positive is definitely going to happen. I think they were prepared for the good news, and we got good news. So now it's just about tying the ends together."
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Monday he expects NBA owners will vote on expansion sometime between the summer and the end of the calendar year. So far, One Roof Sports and Entertainment led by Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway is the only group that has publicly stated its intention to pursue expansion in Seattle.
To Kemp, the greatest benefit of having the Sonics return, is the potential for community impact: from partnerships with local organizations, to camps, to players simply showing their faces around the city.
“I look back to 1990 to 1992, and I see how many kids that admired us as athletes back then,” Kemp said. “And I look at the NBA now and how many kids from the Seattle area are in the NBA and I say that tradition really needs to continue. The best way for that tradition to continue is if we have a sports team and kids have somebody they can look up to and actually see, not just on TV, but actually in person.”
Kemp spoke highly of the community efforts the Sonics made when he was on the team, saying, in his opinion, the organization's impact was the largest of any franchise in the city at the time. The community work that the Sonics did back in the 90s when Kemp was on the team is a part of why he stayed in Seattle, he said.
“By them allowing me to do work in the community, it only expanded after I retired," Kemp said. He is currently working to start his own foundation which will focus on providing mental health resources to people experiencing homelessness.
"You see some people going through things and sometimes it scares people away, but I just think of it as an outcry where those people really need help," Kemp said.
If the team comes back, he expects them to pick up where they left off with community engagements, and he'd be happy to be a part of it.
"I think that would be most important, especially for the people who have sat around for years and supported the Sonics' comeback," Kemp said. "They definitely have to get out into the community and do some positive things. And that's that would be the part that I would jump on board and help them out with."
Kemp believes Seattle is ready for the Sonics to be back, adding, with a smile, that he believes many of the Kraken season ticket holders bought their tickets to be first in line for the Sonics.
"The arena is great," Kemp said of Climate Pledge. "I sit there sometimes and I watch the hockey games, and in my mind, I'm picturing basketball being played there.
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