The

1999–2000 NBA season The 1999–2000 NBA season was the 54th season of the National Basketball Association. The season began on November 2, 1999, and ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning the NBA championship, beating the Indiana Pacers 4 games to 2 in the 2000 ...

was the 33rd season for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

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 ...

. The SuperSonics had the thirteenth overall pick in the

1999 NBA draft The 1999–2000 NBA season, 1999 NBA draft was held on June 30, 1999, at the MCI Center (now Capital One Arena) in Washington, D.C. It was the first draft in which four players from the same college were picked in the first round, with Elton Bran ...

, and selected shooting guard

Corey Maggette Corey Antoine Maggette (; born November 12, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He became an analyst for Fox Sports. High school and college career Magget ...

out of

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, but soon traded him to the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

in exchange for Horace Grant. The team also acquired

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 ...

from the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

, and signed free agents Vernon Maxwell, second-year forward

Ruben Patterson Ruben Nathaniel Patterson (born July 31, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. During his career, he played as a small forward and shooting guard. During his college career at the University of Cincinnati, Patterson earned ...

and three-point specialist Chuck Person. Two years removed from the

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, he became an assistant with the team before being appointed as a head coach ...

-era, the SuperSonics held a 31–20 record at the All-Star break, and managed to qualify for the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

after a one-year absence, finishing in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a 45–37 record, and earning the #7 seed in the Western Conference.

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 ...

averaged 24.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 8.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game, and led the league with 177 three-point field goals; he was also named to the

All-NBA First Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

, and to the

NBA All-Defensive First Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in tw ...

, while being selected for the 2000 NBA All-Star Game in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. In addition,

Vin Baker Vinny Lamont Baker (born November 23, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He appeared in four consecutive All-Star Games. He currently serves as an assistant coac ...

averaged 16.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, while Barry contributed 11.8 points and 1.3 steals per game, and also finished second on the team with 164 three-point field goals, Patterson showed improvement averaging 11.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and Grant provided the team with 8.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Off the bench, Maxwell contributed 10.9 points per game, but only played just 47 games due to a knee injury, and second-year forward Rashard Lewis provided with 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Payton also finished in sixth place in

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

voting, and tied in fifth place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and Patterson finished tied in sixth place in Most Improved Player voting, while Lewis finished tied in eleventh place. In the Western Conference First Round of the

2000 NBA playoffs The 2000 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1999–2000 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion Indian ...

, the SuperSonics faced off against the 2nd-seeded

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

, where they lost the series in five games. Following the season, Grant was traded to the

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

after only one season in Seattle, while Maxwell was traded to the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

, but was released to free agency, and re-signed as a free agent with the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

, and Person retired. For the season, the SuperSonics added new dark red alternate road uniforms, which remained in use until 2001.

Offseason

Draft picks

The 1999 NBA Draft saw the Seattle SuperSonics with the 13th and 41st overall picks, the latter of which was acquired by the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

. With the remaining pick, the Sonics selected

, regarded by some as the "best pure athlete in the entire draft." On draft night, the Sonics traded Maggette to the

, along with veteran players

Billy Owens Billy Eugene Owens (born May 1, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Syracuse, where he was an All-American and th ...

, Don MacLean, and Dale Ellis. In return, the Sonics received veteran forward Horace Grant, a three-time NBA champion with the

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

-led

(1991–1993). They also received two future second-round draft picks (No. 42 in 2000 and No. 42 in 2001) in the deal.

Roster

Regular season

Seattle began the season by winning 9 out of their first 11 games, capping off the run with a win over the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

on November 20, 1999. Their strong play continued through the month of January, where a 7-game win streak put them at a season-high 14 games over .500 (27–13). Though the Sonics only managed to win 18 of their final 42 games, their early-season success offset their late-season losses, keeping them safely within the playoff picture. With two games left in the season, the Sonics overcame the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

in overtime to secure the 7th seed in the Western Conference. This assured that the team would avoid the 1st-seeded

, who finished the season with an NBA-best 67–15, in the first round of the playoffs. Particularly, the seeding eliminated the possibility of unfavorable match-ups with a young

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

and season MVP

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

. The Sonics would lose their final game of the regular season and finish with a 45–37 record.

Season standings

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

Record vs. opponents

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 22 , @

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

L 93–104
,

(24) ,

(11) ,

(6) , Delta Center
19,911 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , April 24 , @

L 87–101
,

(20) ,

(7) , Shammond Williams (10) , Delta Center
19,911 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , April 29 ,

W 89–78
,

(23) ,

(11) ,

(10) ,

KeyArena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as the Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it wa ...

16,713 , 1–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 4 , May 3 ,

W 104–93
,

(35) ,

(10) ,

(11) ,

16,631 , 2–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 5 , May 5 , @

L 93–96
,

(27) , three players tied (7) ,

(9) , Delta Center
19,911 , 2–3 , -

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Player Statistics Citation:

Awards and records

* Gary Payton,

Transactions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1999-2000 Seattle SuperSonics Season Seattle SuperSonics seasons

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...