1995–96 Seattle SuperSonics season

The 1995–96 NBA season was the 28th season for the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the SuperSonics acquired Hersey Hawkins and David Wingate from the Charlotte Hornets, and re-acquired Frank Brickowski from the Sacramento Kings. The team returned to what had now become the KeyArena at Seattle Center, after spending the previous season in the Tacoma Dome, while the KeyArena was being renovated.

After two consecutive NBA playoff appearances losing in the first round, the SuperSonics got off to a 9–6 start to the regular season in November, but later on posted a 14-game winning streak between February and March, then won nine straight games between March and April. The team held a 34–12 record at the All-Star break, then won 30 of their final 36 games of the season, winning the Pacific Division title with a franchise-best 64–18 record, surpassing the record from the 1993–94 season, and earning the #1 seed in the Western Conference; The team also posted a 38–3 record at home, which was the second-best in the league, and qualified for the NBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.

Shawn Kemp led the team with 19.6 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, while Gary Payton averaged 19.3 points, 7.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team, and was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first and only point guard ever to win the award; Kemp and Payton were both named to the All-NBA Second Team.

In addition, Detlef Schrempf averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, but only played 63 games due to a knee injury, while Hawkins provided the team with 15.6 points and 1.8 steals per game, and also led them with 146 three-point field goals, sixth man Sam Perkins provided with 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, along with 129 three-point field goals, and starting center Ervin Johnson contributed 5.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Also off the bench, Vincent Askew averaged 8.4 points per game, and defensive guard Nate McMillan contributed 5.0 points, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

Kemp and Payton were both selected for the 1996 NBA All-Star Game in San Antonio, Texas, with head coach George Karl coaching the Western Conference; Payton also finished in sixth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Kemp finished in eighth place. This Sonics team is regarded as one of the best defensive teams in the late 90s.

Led by Kemp and Payton, the two formed "Sonic Boom", one of the most electrifying tandems in NBA history. In the 1996 NBA playoffs, the SuperSonics faced off against the 8th-seeded Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference First Round; despite losing Game 2 at home, 90–81, the SuperSonics defeated the Kings in four games, advancing to the second round for the first time in three years. In the Western Conference Semi-finals, they swept the 5th-seeded, and 2-time defending champion Houston Rockets in four straight games to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they defeated the Utah Jazz in seven games to reach their first NBA Finals appearance since 1979.

In the 1996 NBA Finals, they would face off against the Chicago Bulls, who posted the league's best record at 72–10, and were led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. After an 0–3 start in the series, the SuperSonics managed to win their next two home games, but eventually lost the series in Game 6 in Chicago. Following the season, Johnson signed as a free agent with the Denver Nuggets, while Askew was traded to the New Jersey Nets, and Brickowski signed with the Boston Celtics. This Sonics team has been featured in the video game series NBA 2K.

For the season, the SuperSonics featured a new primary logo of a dark green oval with the Space Needle forming the letter "I" in Sonics, plus adding new uniforms, and added dark green and red to their color scheme. The logo and uniforms would both remain in use until 2001.