Former NBA star Shawn Kemp released after drive-by shooting arrest

No charges are immediately being filed against former NBA star Shawn Kemp following his arrest in a drive-by shooting in Washington, prosecutors said Thursday.

Kemp, 53, was booked for investigation of felony drive-by shooting shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday in Tacoma, online jail records show. No one was injured in the shooting Wednesday afternoon.

Adam Faber, a spokesman for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon that that no charges were immediately being filed against Kemp and that he was being released from jail pending further investigation.

Kemp, who has two licensed cannabis stores in Seattle, was a six-time NBA all-star and played for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1989 to 1997. He also played for Cleveland, Portland and Orlando.

Kemp debuted in the NBA during the 1989-90 season as a 20-year-old who had never played college basketball. He became known for his high-flying, athletic dunks.

Tacoma police said they arrested a 53-year-old man after a shooting in a parking lot near the Tacoma Mall on Wednesday, but a spokeswoman Thursday did not confirm whether that was Kemp. The shooting followed an altercation between people in two vehicles; one car fled and a gun was recovered, police said.

SuperSonics great Shawn Kemp opening Seattle marijuana dispensary

The “Reign Man” has a new business venture.

Former NBA All-Star Shawn Kemp is scheduled to open a marijuana dispensary on Oct. 30, according to The Seattle Times’ Sean Quinton.

The outlet is believed to be Seattle’s first Black-owned cannabis shop.

Kemp’s former Seattle SuperSonics teammate Gary Payton will join him for the opening ceremony. Payton launched his own cannabis company, CannaSports, last year.

“I’m looking forward to welcoming Sonics fans on a regular basis, starting with opening day,” Kemp said.

Kemp played the first eight seasons of his 14-year NBA career with Seattle, helping lead the Sonics to the 1996 Finals.

NBA returning to Seattle???

With news breaking just hours ago in the Toronto Star & Vancouver Sun that the Sacramento Kings sale is going through and the ownership group is planning on moving the team up north to Seattle pending approval of the other NBA owners I thought I’d say what this means to me personally.

Growing up in mid 90’s I was first introduced to basketball during the hay days of the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was the poster boy for the national basketball association. I became a supersonics fan during the 95-96 season which was about the time the NBA opened shop in my hometown of Vancouver with the grizzlies franchise. While the grizzlies where a pitiful team with poor management, The sonics were the team that played against the Bulls in the finals the first season I started paying attention to basketball. I was a huge fan of the sonics and loved Gary Payton/Shawn Kemp. I even owned several Shawn Kemp T-shirts.

I wasn’t a huge basketball fan but I enjoyed watching the sonics play, as I got older I stared to under the importance of the team to Seattle. The sonics won the NBA Championship in 70’s which happened to be the cities only major sporting championship in the last 100 years. The sonics were prehaps the team with most loyal fans in seattle and fell victim to having an outdated arena which led to the team being moved to Oklahoma City. This led to many too belief that the pacifac northwest wasn’t a viable region for professional basketball given that the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis only six years earlier and the only team left in the pacifac northwest was the Portland Trail Blazers.

As Charles pointed out in the above link many fans/former players feel that the sonics history is not to be included in the thunders history and the league is trying now to separate the sonics history from the thunder’s history. This kinda like how the NFL has handle the Browns/Raven debacle of 96. This idea is interesting in that the new ownership group has openly expressed their want to call the team the supersonics. I am overjoyed by this decision and personally hope the team can inspire a new group of fans in the pacific northwest. Who knows maybe one day Vancouver might get a team that can actually play basketball to, here’s to hoping right!