The

2002–03 NBA season The 2002–03 NBA season was the 57th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs beating the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the 2003 NBA Finals. Notable occurrences *The Hornets relocate from Ch ...

was the SuperSonics' 36th season in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. During the off-season, the Sonics acquired Kenny Anderson and

Vitaly Potapenko Vitalii Mykolayovych Potapenko ( , ; born March 21, 1975) is a Ukrainian professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketbal ...

from the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. The Sonics got off to a solid start winning eight of their first ten games, but then lost six of their next seven games, then posted six-game losing streaks in January and February, holding a 21–27 record at the All-Star break. At midseason, before the trading deadline, the team traded All-Star point guard

Gary Payton Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who was a point guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best know ...

and Desmond Mason to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

in exchange for All-Star shooting guard

Ray Allen Walter Ray Allen Jr. (born July 20, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Allen played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a play ...

. More changes continued as Anderson was traded to the

New Orleans Hornets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

in exchange for

Elden Campbell Elden Jerome Campbell (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played as a power forward and center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1990 to 2005. He spent his first nine years with the Los A ...

. Payton also represented the Western Conference for the final time in the

2003 NBA All-Star Game The 2003 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition game, exhibition basketball game which was played on February 9, 2003, at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Hawks. This game was the 52nd edition of the North American National Basketba ...

. The Sonics, now led by the newly acquired Allen, finished the season fifth in the Pacific Division with a 40–42 record, missing the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

Rashard Lewis Rashard Quovon Lewis (born August 8, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. Lewis entered the NBA directly from Alief Elsik High School. He rose to prominence in the NBA as a scorer with the Seattle SuperSonics, and was late ...

averaged 18.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while

Brent Barry Brent Robert Barry (born December 31, 1971), also known by the nickname "Bones", is an American basketball coach, executive, broadcaster and former player. He is the assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NB ...

averaged 10.3 points, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game, second-year forward

Vladimir Radmanović Vladimir Radmanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Владимир Радмановић; born 19 November 1980) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. In Serbia he played for Crvena zvezda and FMP and in the National Basketball Association ...

provided the team with 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and second-year center

Predrag Drobnjak Predrag "Peđa" Drobnjak ( sr-cyrl, Предраг "Пеђа" Дробњак; born 27 October 1975) is a Montenegrin professional basketball scout and former player. At , he played at the Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (bask ...

contributed 9.4 points per game. Following the season, Drobnjak signed as a free agent with the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

, and Campbell signed with the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

Offseason

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:z - clinched division title :y - clinched division title :x - clinched playoff spot

Offseason

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Player statistics

Awards and records

Transactions

References

See also