Gary Payton Says NBA Will Bring Team Back To Seattle, ‘It’s Gonna Happen’

Get ready, Seattle … the NBA is coming back — at least, that’s according to Gary Payton, who tells TMZ Sports he truly believes the Association is gearing up to put a squad back in the city soon.

The NBA legend said he feels it’ll all come as part of an expansion effort in the next two or three years.

Payton explained … he thinks NBA commissioner Adam Silver will add two teams to the league, one in Las Vegas — and the other in Seattle. He said he figures it’ll all go down around 2025.

“I think it’s gonna happen,” The Glove said. “I think us and Vegas should be a good starting point for what the NBA wants to do.”

Of course, the league used to have a team in Seattle — Payton played for it for 13 of his 18 NBA seasons — but it relocated the franchise to Oklahoma City following the 2007-08 season.

Seattle mainstays have been pining for a return of the SuperSonics almost ever since — with even Russell Wilson fighting for it during his time as the Seahawks’ quarterback.

Payton tells us he’s doing everything he can to facilitate the move … saying he’s already had talks about potentially being involved in the new ownership group.

“I’m already in the works with that,” he said.