Mystery meeting: Gov. Ferguson to meet with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver

A one-line mention in an emailed calendar update from Washington’s governor will have basketball fans perking up.

Governor Bob Ferguson is meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, the Governor’s Office announced.

The meeting was a late addition to his schedule, slotted before a pre-arranged 2 p.m. meeting with Blue Origin, the space technology company headquartered in Kent.

The Governor’s Office did not release any details on the meeting. So we don’t know where it will take place or what will be discussed.

KIRO Newsradio has reached out for more information.

Governor Ferguson has publicly advocated for a return of the Sonics

What we do know is that Governor Ferguson is a basketball fan. And he’s an advocate for bringing an NBA team back to Seattle.

The SuperSonics reigned in Seattle from 1967 to 2008, before it was sold to an Oklahoma City-based ownership group and moved there. The team was rebranded as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Or, as salty Seattle fans call it, the Zombie Sonics.

Governor Ferguson mentioned bringing back the Sonics early in his campaign for governor in 2023, in a Facebook post:

“The NBA season starts tomorrow. As a former ‘Lenny Wilkens Basketball Camp Player of the Day,’ I plan to attend a Sonics game in Seattle as Governor. #BringBacktheSonics,” the then-Attorney General Ferguson stated.

The Governor also helped unveil a statue of Lenny Wilkens, a former Sonics player and coach, last October.

It was an honor to help celebrate Lenny at the unveiling of his statue at Climate Pledge Arena this summer. He was a giant in Seattle sports, but cared even more about giving back to the community. As a kid, I attended his summer basketball camp, and being selected as the Player… pic.twitter.com/HvTJX5ixxT

— Governor Bob Ferguson (@GovBobFerguson) November 10, 2025

Ferguson pushed for a Sonics return as recently as his State of the State address in January.

“I’m excited to announce that under the new Ferguson Administration, for the first time in State history, the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks won their divisions in the same year. That can’t be a coincidence,” Ferguson said. “And we know that our work in professional sports is not done until we bring the Seattle Super Sonics back home.”

Clues from the league

Fans, business groups, and politicians have campaigned for a team for years.

The most likely route has been an expansion team. In December, Commissioner Adam Silver hinted that it could be a possibility and that a decision on expansion would come sometime in 2026.

“It’s not a secret we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle. We’ve looked at other markets, as well,” Silver said. “I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.”

This is a developing story, check back for updates.

Read more of Jillian Raftery’s stories here.