TheI-5 rivalry was aNational Basketball Association (NBA)rivalry between thePortland Trail Blazers and theSeattle SuperSonics.^[2][1] The twoPacific Northwest cities are 180 miles (290 km) apart and connected byInterstate 5.^[1] The rivalry ended in2008 when the SuperSonics wererelocated to Oklahoma City and became theThunder.^[1][3][4]

On July 18, 2006, after unsuccessful efforts to persuadeWashington state government officials to provide funding to update the SuperSonics'KeyArena,Howard Schultz and Basketball Club of Seattle LLP sold the SuperSonics and their sister team, theWomen's National Basketball Association'sSeattle Storm for $350 million toProfessional Basketball Club LLC (PBC), an investment group that was headed byOklahoma City businessmanClay Bennett. On April 18, 2008, NBA owners approved a potential SuperSonics' relocation to Oklahoma City in a 28–2 vote by the league's Board of Governors; onlyMark Cuban of theDallas Mavericks andPaul Allen of the Trail Blazers voted against the move. The approval meant the SuperSonics would be allowed to move to Oklahoma City'sFord Center for the 2008–09 season after reaching a settlement with the city of Seattle.^[5]

Seattle and Portland have had rivalries based on various sports teams. Of the five major sports leagues in North America, the two cities each currently have franchises inMajor League Soccer with theTimbers and theSounders, which have played annually since the Timbers joined MLS in 2011. Previously, the two cities had various incarnations of the current professional franchises in leagues such as theNorth American Soccer League andUSL. The top women's soccer league in the U.S., theNWSL, features a rivalry between theSeattle Reign andPortland Thorns. Additionally, theOregon–Washington football rivalry is one of the most played rivalries in NCAA Division I FBS history, and has been played regularly since 1900.

The first meeting between the Blazers and Sonics occurred on September 30, 1970, in a pre-season exhibition game held at theW. F. West High School gymnasium inChehalis, Washington, midway between Portland and Seattle.^[6] The teams were immediately projected to be rivals, owing to the close proximity andexisting rivalry between thePacific Northwest cities.^[6] The Trail Blazers were a new expansion team for1970, while the SuperSonics began play three seasons earlier in1967.^[6]

Both teams beat long odds to emerge as the winners of the 2007NBA draft lottery. Portland, with only a 5.3% chance, received the number one selection. Seattle, at a 9.7% chance, won the second pick. Their lottery luck and the presence of two generational prospects in the draft fueled instant hope for the revival of both franchises.

In the2007 NBA draft, Portland selectedGreg Oden as the draft's number one pick.^[7] Seattle followed, selectingKevin Durant at number two.^[7]

Cruelly, neither city's fanbase would enjoy success from the draft. Oden was plagued with injuries and would play only 82 total games for the Blazers before being waived in 2012. Durant earned the2007–2008NBA Roookie of the Year award with the SuperSonics, but his addition was unable to prevent the team from beingrelocated to Oklahoma City thefollowing year, where they began play as theThunder.

The Blazers' rivalry did not continue with the newly relocatedOklahoma City Thunder, despite that organization's past history in Seattle and both teams continuing to play in theWestern ConferenceNorthwest Division.^[3][4]

Both cities gainedMajor League Soccer teams in the years since the Sonics left, with theSounders beginning play in 2009 and theTimbers in 2011.^[8] ThePortland Timbers–Seattle Sounders rivalry, which dates back to the 1970s, has continued thecivic rivalry, as has the three-teamCascadia Cup withVancouver Whitecaps FC (former home of the similarly relocatedVancouver Grizzlies NBA team).^[8]

The Blazers eliminated the Thunder from the first round of the2019 NBA playoffs on a Game 5, 37-foot (11 m)buzzer beater3 byDamian Lillard.^[9] Lillard mockinglywaved goodbye to the Thunder after the shot,^[9] and would later comment: "What can I say? That was for Seattle."^[10]

On October 3, 2022, the Blazers played in a "Rain City Showcase" preseason game versus theLos Angeles Clippers at the newly renovatedClimate Pledge Arena in Seattle.^[11]

• 1978 Western Conference Semifinals: SuperSonics won, 4–2
• 1980 Western Conference First Round: SuperSonics won, 2–1
• 1983 Western Conference First Round: Trail Blazers won, 2–0
• 1991 Western Conference First Round: Trail Blazers won, 3–2

• List of National Basketball Association rivalries
• Portland Timbers–Seattle Sounders rivalry
• Portland–Seattle rivalry
• Dodgers–Padres rivalry (MLB rivalry under the same name)

• Portland Trail Blazers
• Seattle SuperSonics
• NBA rivalries

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