Every era of Sonics basketball, one lineup. These are the five highest-rated Sonics legends across the 1960s to today, chosen by iKnoBall's era-adjusted engine — and the record they'd post over a full 82-game season.
Two bigs or a wing-heavy five? That's the engine optimizing for pure rating — exactly the debate iKnoBall is built to settle. Think you'd start a different five? Prove it.
Gary Payton anchors the group at a 91 overall — the kind of number only genuine all-time greats reach on iKnoBall's scale. Around Payton, the model fills out a starting five that balances scoring, playmaking and defense across Sonics history, then simulates all 82 games. The result — 39–43 — reflects both the raw talent and how the pieces fit: a lineup that covers every role and avoids stacking too many ball-dominant scorers projects higher than one built on names alone.
Every Sonics legend in the iKnoBall pool, ranked by era-adjusted overall. The top five above start; the rest form the bench and the debate.
| Player | Era | Pos | PPG | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Payton | 1990s | PG | 21.8 | 91 |
| Shawn Kemp | 1990s | PF | 19.6 | 86 |
| Detlef Schrempf | 1990s | SF | 17.8 | 82 |
| Hersey Hawkins | 1990s | SG | 15.9 | 79 |
| Sam Perkins | 1990s | PF | 12.5 | 77 |
| Nate McMillan | 1990s | PG | 7.4 | 77 |
| Vincent Askew | 1990s | SG | 9.1 | 74 |
Draft your own all-time Sonics — or any franchise across five sports — set your starting five, and sim a full season chasing a perfect 82–0. Free to play.
Draft Your All-Time FiveGet the AppBy iKnoBall's era-adjusted ratings the all-time Sonics starting five is Gary Payton (Point Guard, 1990s), Detlef Schrempf (Small Forward, 1990s), Hersey Hawkins (Shooting Guard, 1990s), Sam Perkins (Power Forward, 1990s), Shawn Kemp (Power Forward, 1990s). Together they project to a 39–43 regular season.
iKnoBall's simulation projects this five at 39–43 over an 82-game season, with an average starter rating of 83. The model runs each game as a probability from the lineup's combined strength, so an all-time five contends for a near-perfect year but nothing is guaranteed.
Each player's overall is built from era-adjusted box-score production (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defense) and anchored to the reputations of established greats, so a 25-point scorer in the 1960s and today are measured on the same scale. Only true legends reach the 90s.
Yes — iKnoBall is a free game where you draft one legend per era, set your starting five, and simulate a full season chasing a perfect 82–0. Play it free at play.iknoball.com.
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Ratings are era-adjusted and computed by iKnoBall's simulation engine. Records are model projections for entertainment, not predictions. Player names belong to their respective owners; iKnoBall is an independent fan-made game.