20 surprising facts about the Oklahoma City Thunder

After Hurricane Katrina damaged the New Orleans Arena in August 2005, the Hornets temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City for two seasons (2005–2007). Drawing over 18,000 fans per night for rookie Chris Paul, the city proved it was ready for a permanent NBA franchise.

Founded as the Seattle SuperSonics in 1967, the franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2008 after Clay Bennett's ownership group settled a federal lawsuit with Seattle. Under the pact, OKC does not display Seattle's 1979 championship banner, preserving the Sonics' identity.

In 2008, six finalist names were floated for the relocated franchise: Bison, Energy, Marshalls, Barons, Thunder, and Wind. Thunder won out as a dual tribute to Oklahoma's famous Tornado Alley storms and the U.S. Army's Oklahoma-based 45th Infantry Thunderbirds Division.

According to official team lore, mascot Rumble the Bison was a wild American buffalo roaming Oklahoma's Wichita Mountains who was struck by a bolt of lightning while saving his herd, transforming him into an anthropomorphic basketball-dunking powerhouse.

Before Oklahoma City even had a major pro sports franchise, voters passed the 1993 Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) temporary one-cent sales tax. It funded the construction of the downtown arena—now Paycom Center—completely debt-free when it opened in 2002.

Inspired by Oklahoma's passionate college sports culture, every fan inside Paycom Center—nicknamed Loud City—remains standing from the opening tip-off until the Thunder score their very first point of the game, creating one of the loudest decibel levels in the NBA.

Before taking over the franchise at age 30 in 2007, Sam Presti was a music-recording graduate and former Rhodes Scholar finalist who started as a $7-an-hour intern with the San Antonio Spurs—where he convinced Gregg Popovich to draft 19-year-old Tony Parker in 2001.

Before Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook, role-playing forward Nick Collison—nicknamed Mr. Thunder—became the first player to have his jersey (#4) hoisted to the rafters in Oklahoma City in March 2019 after spending his entire 15-year NBA career with the franchise.

Between 2007 and 2009, Sam Presti accomplished a feat unmatched in NBA history by drafting three future regular-season MVPs in three consecutive lotteries: Kevin Durant (#2 in 2007), Russell Westbrook (#4 in 2008), and James Harden (#3 in 2009).

After starting their inaugural 2008–09 Oklahoma City campaign 3–29 and finishing 23–59, head coach Scott Brooks and a 21-year-old Kevin Durant engineered a 27-game improvement to go 50–32 in 2009–10—making OKC one of the youngest 50-win teams in league history.

At just 21 years and 197 days old at the end of the 2009–10 season, Thunder star Kevin Durant averaged 30.1 points per game to become the youngest scoring champion in NBA history—going on to win four scoring titles and the 2014 MVP award in Oklahoma City.

While Durant, Westbrook, and Harden supplied the scoring on OKC's 2012 NBA Finals team, forward Serge Ibaka anchored the paint. On February 19, 2012, Ibaka recorded the first triple-double in Thunder history the hard way: 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 blocked shots.

Drafted 12th overall by Oklahoma City in 2013, fan-favorite center Steven Adams grew up in New Zealand as the youngest of 18 siblings who averaged well over six feet tall—including his older sister Dame Valerie Adams, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the shot put.

In 2016–17, Russell Westbrook shattered Oscar Robertson's 55-year-old single-season record by posting 42 triple-doubles on his way to NBA MVP honors. Even more remarkably, Westbrook averaged a full season triple-double across three consecutive Thunder campaigns (2016–2019).

When Kawhi Leonard asked the LA Clippers to acquire Paul George in July 2019, Sam Presti extracted an unprecedented package: five first-round picks, two pick swaps, Danilo Gallinari, and a 20-year-old guard named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander—plus the 2022 pick used on Jalen Williams.

Passed over by all 30 teams in the 2019 NBA Draft, Arizona State guard Luguentz Dort signed a modest two-way contract with Oklahoma City hours later. By the 2020 playoffs, he was locking down James Harden and pouring in 30 points in Game 7.

At the bottom of their rebuild on December 2, 2021, an injury-depleted Thunder lineup lost 152–79 to the Memphis Grizzlies—the largest margin of defeat (73 points) in NBA history. Less than 29 months later, OKC finished #1 in the Western Conference.

Selected #2 overall in 2022, seven-foot-one big man Chet Holmgren suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in a summer pro-am game that sidelined him for the entire 2022–23 season. In 2023–24, he played all 82 regular-season games, blocking 190 shots and hitting 129 threes.

With an average age of just 23.9 years in 2023–24, head coach Mark Daigneault's Thunder won 57 games to become the youngest #1 conference seed in NBA history—before exploding for a franchise-record 68–14 regular season the very next year.

Capping a 68–14 season in 2024–25, the Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 at Paycom Center to capture Oklahoma City's first NBA championship. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won both regular-season MVP and Finals MVP—the first Canadian ever to win Finals MVP.