None of that came to be.
Schultz clashed with the team's star player, Gary Payton, and shipped him out of town. He briefly fought for a new or renovated arena, but abandoned the effort once it became clear that Seattle and Washington state were not interested in providing significant public funding.
By 2006, he sold the team to an ownership group from Oklahoma that many feared wanted to move the team to Oklahoma City. Two years later, it did.
Since then, the Oklahoma City Thunder have become one of the NBA's top teams, making the finals in 2012. Seattle still has no NBA franchise.
"As a Sonics fan, I would bet Howard Schultz has a better shot at Oklahoma's electoral votes than Washington's," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a possible 2020 Democratic candidate himself, told NBC News in a statement.