The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American expert b-ball group situated in Oklahoma City. The Thunder contend in the Public Ball Affiliation (NBA) as an individual from the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The group plays its home games at Paycom Center.
The Thunder's NBA G Association member is the Oklahoma City Blue, which it owns. The Thunder are the main group in the significant expert North American games associations situated in the territory of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City recently facilitated the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons following obliteration brought about by Typhoon Katrina in New Orleans.
The group was initially settled as the Seattle SuperSonics, a development group that joined the NBA for the 1967-68 season. The SuperSonics migrated from Seattle to Oklahoma City on July 3, 2008 after a settlement was arrived at between the proprietorship bunch drove by Dirt Bennett and officials in Seattle following a lawsuit.
In Seattle, the SuperSonics qualified for the NBA end of the season games multiple times, won their division multiple times, progressed to three NBA Finals, and brought home the 1979 NBA Title.
In Oklahoma City, the Thunder equipped for their most memorable season finisher billet during the 2009-10 season. They brought home their most memorable division championship as the Roar in the 2010-11 season and their most memorable Western Meeting title as the Roar in the 2011-12 season, showing up in the NBA Finals for the fourth time in establishment history and first time beginning around 1996, when the group was situated in Seattle.
Franchise History
The Thunder's past manifestation, the Seattle SuperSonics were framed in 1967. In their 41 seasons in Seattle, the SuperSonics ordered a 1,745-1,585 (.524) win-misfortune record in the normal season and went 107-110 (.493) in the end of the season games.
The establishment's titles incorporate three Western Meeting titles (1978, 1979 and 1996) and one NBA title in 1979.
2008–2009: Move to Oklahoma City and inaugural season
In 2006, previous Starbucks Chief Howard Schultz sold the SuperSonics and its Ladies' Public B-ball Affiliation (WNBA) sister establishment, the Seattle Tempest, for $350 million to the Expert B-ball Club LLC, a gathering of Oklahoma City financial backers drove by Dirt Bennett.
The offer of the SuperSonics and Tempest was supported by NBA proprietors the next October. In 2007, Bennett reported that the establishment would move to Oklahoma City when the rent with KeyArena lapsed.
In June 2008, a claim brought by the city of Seattle against Bennett because of his endeavors to break the last two years of the Sonics' rent at KeyArena went to government court. Almost a month after the fact, the different sides agreed.
The terms granted the city $45 million to escape the leftover rent at KeyArena, and would have given an extra $30 million installment to Seattle in 2013 on the off chance that specific circumstances had been met. The proprietors consented to leave the SuperSonics name, logo, colors, flags, prizes, and keeps in Seattle for a potential future NBA establishment
nonetheless, the things would stay the property of the Oklahoma City group alongside other "resources", including title flags and trophies.September 3, 2008, the group name, logo and varieties for the Oklahoma City establishment were uncovered to the general population. The name "Thunder" was picked concerning Oklahoma's area in Cyclone Rear entryway and Oklahoma City as the home of the U.S. Armed force's 45th Infantry Division, the Thunderbirds.
The SuperSonics' last NBA draft was in 2008, and they utilized the fourth by and large pick to choose Russell Westbrook, a youthful point watch from UCLA, who might turn into the group's establishment player.
The Thunder took part in the Orlando Star Summer Association highlighting their second-year players, expected free specialists and youngsters. The players wore conventional highly contrasting pullovers perusing "OKC-NBA" against a diagram of a ball.
The Thunder's impermanent practice office was the Sawyer Community at Southern Nazarene College, which had been utilized by the New Orleans Hornets when they moved to Oklahoma City after Tropical storm Katrina.
The Thunder played a few preseason games before the 2008-09 ordinary season, however only one of those games was in Oklahoma City. The Thunder showed up in Billings, Montana on October 8, 2008 in a 88-82 preseason misfortune against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder played their most memorable Passage Place game on October 14 against the Los Angeles Trimmers.
In their normal season home opener, the Thunder confronted (and lost to) the Milwaukee Bucks. Lord Watson scored the primary marks of the time with a layup. Three evenings later on November 2, the Thunder dominated their most memorable match by overcoming the Timberwolves, working on their record to 1-3.
The group then went on a 10-game long string of failures prior to settling on November 22 to fire lead trainer P. J. Carlesimo and aide Paul Westhead. Aide mentor Scott Creeks then, at that point, took over on a break basis.
Oklahoma City lost its next four games to tie the establishment long string of failures of 14 set in Seattle the past season. However, the group figured out how to forestall history by dominating their next match out and about against the Memphis Grizzlies.
As the season proceeded, the Thunder started to get to the next level. In the wake of beginning 3-29, the Thunder completed the ordinary season 20-30 for the excess fifty games. In addition to the fact that they were winning more regularly, they played substantially more seriously than in the initial segment of the time.
The group carried their record to 23-59 and enhanced their record of 20-62 from the group's last season in Seattle. The late-season triumphs of the Thunder added to the marking of Scott Streams as the group's true lead trainer.
Subsequent to moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle, the group's working circumstance improved particularly. In December 2008, Forbes magazine assessed the group's establishment esteem at $300 million — a 12 percent expansion from the earlier year's $268 million, when the club was situated in Seattle. Forbes likewise noticed an expansion in level of accessible tickets sold, from 78% in the group's last season in Seattle to 100% in 2008-09.
Christina Berglund