The 1990–91 NBA season was the 23rd season for the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association.^[1] Head coach Bernie Bickerstaff was replaced by his former assistant K. C. Jones, and went on to occupy the desk of vice-president of Basketball Operations for Seattle,^[2] resigning months later to accept a job as General Manager of the Denver Nuggets.^[3] The Draft Lottery gave the SuperSonics the No. 2 pick, which was used to select future All-Star point guard Gary Payton out of Oregon State in the 1990 NBA draft.^[4][5][6]

Substantial changes were made on the roster, first by trading Sonics referent Xavier McDaniel to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Eddie Johnson during the first months of competition.^{[7][8][9][10]} Following the All-Star break, the team traded Dale Ellis, whose off-the-court problems were the focus of much unwanted attention,^[11][12] to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Ricky Pierce,^{[13][14][15][16]} and sent center Olden Polynice to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Benoit Benjamin.^[17][18][19] The Sonics held a 22–23 record at the All-Star break,^[20] and would finish with a 41–41 record like the previous season, this time being able to reach the playoffs as the #8 seed in the Western Conference, where they lost in the Western Conference First Round to the top-seeded Portland Trail Blazers in five games.^{[21][22][23][24]}

Johnson averaged 17.4 points per game with the team after the trade, while Derrick McKey averaged 15.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, and second-year forward Shawn Kemp showed improvement, averaging 15.0 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. In addition, Sedale Threatt contributed 12.7 points and 1.4 steals per game, while Payton provided with 7.2 points, 6.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, and Michael Cage averaged 6.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.^[25] Following the season, Threatt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.^[26][27]