[1] It was Bernie Bickerstaff's last season as head coach of the Sonics, and the first season for rookie and future All-Star forward Shawn Kemp, who was selected with the 17th pick in the 1989 NBA draft.
[2][3][4] After winning two of their first three games, the Sonics lost in a quintuple-overtime game on November 9 to the Milwaukee Bucks, 155–154 at the Bradley Center.
[5][6][7][8] The Sonics played around .500 for the entire season, holding a 22–23 record at the All-Star break,[9] and peaking late in the season at 34–32 before going 7–9 to end their season, as they finished fourth in the Pacific Division with a 41–41 record,[10] losing the #8 seed in the Western Conference to the Houston Rockets, who had the same record but were ahead after tie-breaks, and thus did not reach the playoffs.
[11][12] Dale Ellis led the team in scoring averaging 23.5 points per game, but only played 55 games due to a collapsed lung and broken ribs suffered from a car accident in January,[13][14][15][16] while Xavier McDaniel averaged 21.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, and Derrick McKey provided the team with 15.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
In addition, Sedale Threatt contributed 11.4 points per game, while Michael Cage averaged 9.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, top draft pick Dana Barros contributed 9.7 points per game, and Nate McMillan provided with 6.4 points, 7.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game.