Former Sonic Lonnie Shelton dies at age 62

Lonnie Shelton, the starting power forward and defensive enforcer for the Seattle SuperSonics team that won the city’s only NBA title in 1979, has died at the age of 62.

Shelton passed away Sunday night in Westminster, California, after battling health issues since suffering a heart attack May 5, according to his son, Marlon, a former basketball player at the University of Washington. Shelton had been in a coma for the past month or so.

The 6-8, 240-pounder, who also starred at Oregon State, played five seasons for the Sonics from 1978-83, averaging 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in 329 regular-season games. He averaged 12.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in 17 playoff games for Seattle in 1979 as the Sonics beat the Lakers, Suns and the then-Washington Bullets to win what was Seattle’s only NBA title in the 41 years the Sonics played in Seattle.

“I know he really valued his time in Seattle,” Marlon Shelton said Monday. “He thought really fondly of the city and the organization.”

Shelton played his first two seasons in New York, but arrived in Seattle via an NBA rule that, at the time, allowed the league to award compensation to teams when another team signed one of its free agents. After New York signed center Marvin Webster, who helped lead Seattle on a surprising run to the NBA Finals in 1978 and whose loss initially appeared to be a devastating blow to a rising Sonics team, the NBA awarded Shelton and the Knicks’ 1979 first-round pick to Seattle as compensation.

“We got so close and then we lost Marvin, so yeah, things were up in the air,” former teammate Jack Sikma said Monday. “But I think everybody felt pretty good about the compensation package.”

Shelton proved a perfect fit in Seattle, teaming with Sikma and John Johnson on Seattle’s front line, with Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson in the backcourt (and Fred Brown serving as a sixth man off the bench). Seattle went 52-30 in the regular season and then, after outlasting the Suns in a rugged seven-game series in the Western Conference finals, cruised to an NBA title series win over Washington in five games.

The Sonics led the NBA that season in fewest points allowed and lowest field goal percentage allowed, which Sikma said was in large part because of Shelton.

“The main thing is Lonnie was a big, physical, physical presence and we always had one of the best defenses in the league and we were one of the best rebounding teams in the league,” Sikma said. “Just put it this way — nobody wanted to mess with Lonnie. I had my best rebounding years when I was side-by-side with Lonnie and the big key was his man was always boxed out.”

Paul Silas, a veteran forward who served as Shelton’s backup in 1979, told the Times in 2003 that the acquisition of Shelton served as the missing piece.

“The thing I remember the most is we lost Marvin Webster and we got Lonnie Shelton in return,” Silas said. “That cemented our team because we were able to put Jack Sikma at the center spot and Lonnie at the 4. JJ played the 3. Gus and DJ were the guards and me and Freddie Brown were coming off of the bench. But the key was getting Lonnie.”

Shelton scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in playing 37 minutes in the Game 5 win that secured the victory.

The Sonics traded Shelton to Cleveland for a second-round pick and what was termed at the time as a “substantial” amount of cash after Seattle made a surprisingly quick exit from the 1983 playoffs, losing in the first round to Portland.

Shelton, who was born on Oct. 19, 1955, in Bakersfield, Calif., played three more years with Cleveland before his career ended in 1986.

He had five sons, including Marlon, who played basketball for the Washington Huskies from 1998-2003, and L.J., who was a first-round pick as an offensive tackle with the Arizona Cardinals in 1999. Another son, Tim, played basketball at San Diego State. Shelton’s other sons are Titus and Dion.

Shelton is the third member of the 1979 starting lineup to pass away — Dennis Johnson died in 2007, and John Johnson in 2016.