History of the Oklahoma City Thunder

In 2006, Howard Schultz sold the SuperSonics for $350 million to a group of Oklahoma City investors led by Clay Bennett, a move approved by NBA owners the following October.

[2] In June 2008, a lawsuit brought by the City of Seattle against Bennett due to his attempts to break the final two years of the Sonics' lease at KeyArena went to federal court.

The owners agreed to leave the SuperSonics name, logo and colors in Seattle for a possible future NBA franchise;[disputed – discuss][3] however, the items would remain the property of the Oklahoma City team along with other "assets," including championship banners and trophies.

[disputed – discuss][4] On September 3, 2008, the team name, logo, and colors for the Oklahoma City franchise were revealed to the public.

[5][6] The Thunder participated in the Orlando Pro Summer League featuring their second-year players, potential free agents and rookies.

The Thunder's temporary practice facility was the Sawyer Center at Southern Nazarene University, which had been used by the New Orleans Hornets when they relocated to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina.

The team then went on a 10-game losing streak before deciding on November 22 to fire head coach P. J. Carlesimo and assistant Paul Westhead.

[10] Oklahoma City lost its next four games to tie the franchise losing streak of 14 set in Seattle the previous season.

Road victories over the San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks further enhanced their reputation.

On April 22, the team secured their first playoff win in Oklahoma City when they defeated the defending-champion Los Angeles Lakers 101–96.

Oklahoma City ranked twelfth in overall attendance in the NBA, and seventh in percentage of available seats occupied (98 percent, including 28 sellouts in 41 home games).

[16] Financially, the Thunder organization continued to build on the positive returns experienced from relocating from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

[18] In the wake of a fourth-seed versus fifth-seed match-up against the Denver Nuggets, Kevin Durant scored 41 points in Game 1 to set a new career playoff high.

[19] The Thunder won the series 4 games to 1 and were set to face off against the Memphis Grizzlies who achieved an eight-seed upset over the San Antonio Spurs just days before.

[20][21][22][23] When the abbreviated training camp began, Oklahoma City started with an intact roster and all players, except for Russell Westbrook.

In addition, the Thunder was the first to sweep their back-to-back-to-back games, winning a home-and-home series with the Houston Rockets, then routing the San Antonio Spurs.

In the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the Thunder swept the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in the first round to advance and face off against their first-round foes from 2010, the Los Angeles Lakers.

In game 2 of the series, Russell Westbrook was struck by Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley, and fell down with an injury and missed the rest of the playoffs after having knee surgery.

In addition to Oklahoma City's off-season movements, they signed free agent Ryan Gomes and re-signed Derek Fisher.

During the opening game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Westbrook scored 38 points, but found himself sidelined due to a small fracture in his right hand.

However, despite the effort, the Thunder missed the playoffs due to a tiebreaker with the New Orleans Pelicans, and Westbrook fell short of the MVP award, finishing fourth in voting.

The Oklahoma City Thunder continued onto the Western Conference Finals in the NBA Playoffs, but giving up a 3–1 lead against the 73-win Golden State Warriors.

[27] On July 7, Durant was officially introduced by the Warriors organization[28] and signed a two-year, $54.3 million contract,[29] with a player option after the first year.

[32] To further bolster the roster and improve Westbrook's supporting cast, the Thunder's front office made a series of aggressive moves to reshape the team.

[33] The team then signed veteran point guard Raymond Felton and sharp-shooting power forward Patrick Patterson in free agency on July 10.

[46] Additionally, the Thunder acquired center Nerlens Noel in free agency,[47] and traded for Abdel Nader from the Boston Celtics.

In return, they received Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and a record collection of future first-round draft picks.

After the George trade, general manager Presti sensed that the future of the franchise was in jeopardy as the team could not seriously contend with Westbrook as the lone star.

[53] Before the start of the 2020–21 NBA season, Chris Paul was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, two additional players and a 2022 first-round draft pick.

[69] On April 3, 2022, Aleksej Pokuševski became the 12th youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists at 20 years and 98 days old.