For state Rep. My-Linh Thai, the recent images and sounds from Afghanistan have hit close to home. “I turned on the news and I turned off the news, and I turned the news back on and I turned it back off,” she said. “It was hard, very hard.”

Ever since the Seattle SuperSonics left town in 2008, Tacoma’s Kris Brannon spent every waking moment making sure the NBA knew he wanted to “Bring ’em Back.” His message was ubiquitous across the region until Brannon — widely known as Sonics Guy — died in February from heart failure . He was 47....