The ‘Ship of Theseus’ is a philosophical thought experiment that ponders the following: if a ship had each of its parts replaced one at a time until every aspect has been upgraded, is it still the same ship?

There was a recent ESPN Article that talked about potential NBA expansion scenarios. It pointed out that if Seattle, Washington, was awarded an expansion franchise, it would regain the history of the original SuperSonics (1967-08). That would mean that the Oklahoma City Thunder would be treated as an expansion franchise that began in 2008.

There was a lawsuit from the city of Seattle back in 2008, when the SuperSonics first threatened a move to Oklahoma. That ensured that if the city were to ever get another team, they would get back the SuperSonics name, branding and records.

This is in line with how the NBA treated the situation with the Hornets and Pelicans franchises, as well as how the NFL handled the Browns and Ravens. In all three of these scenarios, there was an initial franchise that then moved to a new city. When the initial city then got a new franchise from the league, they also inherited the initial franchise’s history and records from their time in said city.

That’s preposterous. The teams, coaching, staff and players all translate from city to city. Kevin Durant won the Rookie of the Year award with the SuperSonics in his final year in Seattle and then eight seasons with the Thunder. Vinny Testeverde was on the 1995 Browns and the 1996 Ravens the year after, the same team.

Durant’s departure to Golden State in 2016 and Testeverde joining the Jets in 1998 may be the final remnants of the franchise’s previous identity, but they act as identifiable links that can be used to trace the team’s proper history.

It is ridiculous that when the new SuperSonics arrive in Seattle they’ll get the records of Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and Durant. Russell Westbrook magically becomes the Thunder franchise leader in assists and rebounds despite never holding the title while playing in Oklahoma.

That doesn’t feel right. The new franchise has no connection to the old one, outside of the name and the brand.

While the NFL and NBA might skew the history by linking franchises to cities, MLB gets it right.

There have been three MLB franchises to exist in the nation’s capital, Washington DC. The first team was called the Senators from 1901 to 1904, then the Nationals from 1905 to 1956 and then back to the Senators for four years before moving to Minneapolis and becoming the Minnesota Twins after the 1960 season.

However, the league wanted to keep a team in Washington, so the 1961 season saw a new Washington Senators franchise form. Even with a non-existent gap, very similar branding and a name verbatim to the original franchise, this was, for all intents and purposes, a new team. They played there until the end of 1971, when they packed up and became the Texas Rangers.

It is also important to point out that the Twins kept all of the records and statistics from their time in DC, including the 1924 World Series. History only began for the second iteration in 1961.

Baseball was then absent from Washington for decades. It would not be until the Montreal Expos, a failing expansion franchise from 1969, had to move in 2005 that the capital got a team again. Yet again, the Nationals, as they would be called, did not inherit any history or titles from previous Washington teams, as they had no connection to them outside of the city that they played in.

A franchise is the lineage of decisions that leads a given team to their current point in history.  The first, second and third Washington baseball teams were simply not the same governing bodies. Sure, the departure of the first led to the formation of the second, but that cause-and-effect chain does not profoundly link the players and statistics of the two.

The same way that the old SuperSonics history should remain associated with the Thunder. Allow the new team to start anew, and don’t rewrite history as it pertains to cities. This is not to say that the Ravens should have to build a Jim Brown statue or that the Nationals re-retire all the numbers the Expos took out of circulation, but just the fact of connection being recognized, not replaced.

The ‘Ship of Theseus’ is not simply just the original planks used to compose the vessel. Rather, it is the current state of the ship, no matter how many original or upgraded parts. As it sails across the sea, it embodies the saga of people and events that once were.