Hoops Heist: Seattle, the Sonics and How a Stolen Team's Legacy Gave Rise to the NBA's Secret Empire

by Jon Finkel

This is the untold story of the city of Seattle, their beloved Sonics, and how the legacy of their stolen team created a transcendent hoops culture and a pipeline of NBA All-Stars, champions and icons with roots in the Emerald City and the Pacific Northwest.

Few cities in the history of modern sports had a visceral connection to a professional sports team like the citizens of Seattle and their Sonics. Beginning with their first season in 1967 through their last in 2008, the city’s love affair with their team and players was unlike any other. From Lenny Wilkens, Spencer Haywood, Slick Watts, “Downtown” Freddie Brown and Jack Sikma, through Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp and the electric 90s era, all the way up to Ray Allen’s run and Kevin Durant’s single season, Hoops Heist explores the incredible impact of the Sonics locally and the importance of the franchise nationally.

Featuring exhaustive research and exclusive interviews with Seattle legends, NBA Hall of Famers and the players who came of age in the Sonics’ shadow, including Isaiah Thomas, Brandon Roy, Doug Christie, Jason Terry, Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford and more, Hoops Heist captures the transcendence of the Pacific Northwest’s basketball scene and its ongoing influence in today’s NBA.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 7, 2020

About the author

Jon Finkel is the award-winning author of 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks In Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Greene and more. His books have been endorsed by everyone from Mark Cuban and Tony Dungy to Spike Lee, Kevin Durant and Chef Robert Irvine.

He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams. Jon was recently profiled in The New Yorker about the awesome community he’s built around his Books & Biceps newsletter. They describe him as “a gym rat’s Reese Witherspoon”.

His upcoming biography, Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, comes out Spring 2024.

Reviews

[Casey Holencik · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are (or were) a fan of the Sonics, this is a great read. If you are a basketball fan, this is a great read. If you are from, or have spent any significant time in or around Seattle, this is a great read. Most of all, if you want to read about how a sports time developed a connection to a city, helped them develop an identity and how the team and players are still intimately involved in the community despite having been gone for over 10 years, this is a great read...

[Steve Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, but more of a valentine to pro basketball in Seattle than the loss of the Sonics. I enjoyed the history--it was especially fun to go back to the time of Payton, Kemp, Schrempf, et al., when, as a Rockets fan, I simultaneously loved and hated the Sonics as fun to watch but the greatest threat to potential Western Conference supremacy. I was waiting for the "Clay Bennett is a bastard" part which is there though restrained, with equal time going to an equally culpable Howard Schultz. Kind of written in a fanboy narrative, but that seems appropriate for the topic. Great for Sonics fans as well as fans of vintage NBA.

[Tim Blackburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seattle Basketball Scene

Nicely written and meticulously researched book about all things Seattle Basketball. Yes it includes the sordid details of the deceitful move of the Seattle Supersonics to become the Oklahoma City Thunder. This was the reason I purchased the book but the book also includes a treasure chest of information on all aspects of Seattle basketball in the 1990's and early 2000's. I also loved the summary of the Seattle Supersonics NBA franchise. Lots of gaps were filled in for me as someone from the southern US and not the Pacific Northwest. A fun read.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really great book about the history of the SuperSonics team, and especially about the impact of the team and players on the community in Seattle. I really enjoyed this, and I hope the next time Expansion becomes a possibility in the NBA, the Sonics are at the front of the line to come back. The author here, Jon Finkel, did a great job.

[Jed Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive book on the history of basketball in Seattle. I realize it’s a niche subject, but it was a huge part of my adolescence.

Looking back, it’s clearly a tragedy. There were far too many devastating disappointments, “what ifs,” and shoulda couldas, but the highs were spectacular.

If you ever heard Callabro call a lob from Gary to the Reign Man, you’ll never, ever forget it.

[Bruce Novozinsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am an NBA history freak but I have to say this one didn't;t hold me beyond chapter 2. I'll give it a star bump for research thoroughness but not too much more.

[Nate Bragg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun look back at the history of the Seattle SuperSonics and the impact of basketball on the Pacifc Northwest plus the PNW’s impact on the game. A nice sports read.