Basketball legend Bill Russell asks $2.6M for Seattle home

Hall-of-famer bought house while coaching Seattle Supersonics in the 1970s

Bill Russell and the Mercer Island home (Getty, Redfin)
Bill Russell and the Mercer Island home (Getty, Redfin)

The Seattle Supersonics are long gone, but the house of its most famous coach is still around — and is now for sale.
Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell has listed the modest Seattle spread for $2.6 million.

The former NBA player and coach bought the property when he coached the Supersonics in the mid-1970s, according to the Los Angeles Times. The team later became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The property is outside the city limits of Seattle on Mercer Island, a roughly 13-square-mile island in Lake Washington and one of the most affluent communities in the country.

The 4,250-square-foot house was built in 1973 and has four bedrooms and three bathrooms on 0.4 acres.

The home appears newly renovated, but retains some of its original features, including wood-paneled walls and built-in bookshelves. The main level includes a wraparound deck.

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The primary suite has a huge bathroom with skylights, a soaking tub, a hot tub and an open shower, presumably large enough to accommodate someone at least 6-foot-9.

The 11-time NBA champion played from the mid-1950s through the late 1960s, earning five MVP honors and 12 All-Star appearances, among numerous other accolades.

He started coaching the Boston Celtics as a player-coach in 1966 and later coached the Sacramento Kings as well as the Sonics. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach.

[LAT] — Dennis Lynch