Talking Sonics with a Sonic and Sun

With the announcement of an NBA exhibition game featuring the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings at Key Arena in Seattle, it will be the first games there for the league since the Sonics bolted for Oklahoma City before the 2008-09 season.

So while speculating if that might lead to a team coming back, why not ask some experts about the Sonics situation?

DESMOND MASON was the 17th pick in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, winning the Slam Dunk Contest during his rookie season.

“They’ll definitely have a team,” said Mason, who was in town over the weekend for the fifth annual Showcase golf exhibition at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course. “It’s just a matter of time. The market is so great, with such a rich history in the league. I can’t wait for it to come back and sit in the stands and have some fun back up in the Pacific Northwest.”

Mason was involved in the trade that sent Gary Payton to Milwaukee for Ray Allen in 2003.

“Just getting drafted was a great memory for me,” said Mason, who played at Oklahoma State. “Showing up in the city and meeting the (then owners) Ackerely family was great. Going to the city and meeting the boys, showing up in the city was really special to me.”

Mason was Mariner fan while in the city.

“When I was in town, I went to all the Mariner games I could,” Mason said. “In the offseason, I was normally traveling, but when there was a crossover during the season, I was usually there.”

That wasn’t all he enjoyed about Seattle.

“Outside of all the food, the people were great,” Mason said. “The rain sucked, but we traveled so much, it didn’t matter. The people were great. Coming from a small town in Texas, to a big city, it had that hospitality of the small town. We’re coming back to the area real soon, and when we do, we’ll hit a Mariner game. We’ll go down, have an ice cold Pyramid, and just hang out.”

And as for that Floating Green at the Coeur d’Alene Resort?

“The wind, the water, pretty much everything was difficult,” Mason said. “Yesterday (Friday), I hit within an inch of the green, but today, I froze up. But it was such a fun time.”

TRUCK ROBINSON, a 11-year veteran of the NBA, also made his first stop at the Showcase over the weekend.

“I thought I played pretty well, for an old guy,” Robinson said. “I’ve never been here before, but thought everything went well.”

Robinson played for five franchises in his career, with stops in Washington, Atlanta, New Orleans (now Utah Jazz), Phoenix and the New York Knicks.

“I haven’t been to this part of the country in about 15 years,” Robinson said. “I came up here to hit off the island green when (former Seattle Seahawks safety) Kenny Easley had a tournament in Spokane. He got some cars together and we came over here and hit. We didn’t play the course though.”

While his career didn’t include a stop in Seattle, he does remember a playoff series against the Sonics in 1979.

“They beat us in Game 7 in the Kingdome when I was with Phoenix,” Robinson said. “There was some 40,000 in the crowd that night. We had them 3-2 and hadn’t lost in five games in Phoenix. They got us in Game 6 and beat us in the Kingdome. Other than that, it was great.”

Seattle beat Washington for its only NBA title in 1979.

“I can’t believe they don’t have another team,” Robinson said. “They need to get another team because the people love their basketball up here. They’ve got the baseball and Seahawks, but basketball has always done really well up here. I think in the future, they’ll have another. When they do, they’ll be ready.”

AS FOR the reason the two, as well as a handful of other NBA, NHL and actors were in town.

The Showcase, a fundraiser for the Community Cancer Fund, raised over $4 million — and counting — for the local fight against cancer this past weekend.

“We’ve all been impacted by cancer in some way,” Community Cancer Fund executive director and co-founder Jerid Keefer said. “It was so powerful to see everyone in attendance this weekend — from guests to sponsors and celebrities — come together to help the local fight against cancer.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.