Oklahoma City Thunder - Relocation from Seattle and inaugural season The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder are part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at the Paycom Center. The Thunder's G League affiliate is the Oklahoma City Blue, which it owns. The Thunder are the only team in the major North American professional sports leagues based in the state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City previously hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The team, originally known as the Seattle SuperSonics, was formed in 1967. In their 41 seasons in Seattle, the SuperSonics have qualified for the playoffs 22 times, amassing a 1,745–1,585 regular-season win-loss record and a 107–110 playoff record. The franchise's accomplishments include winning its division six times, winning three Western Conference championships, and winning an NBA championship in 1979. 2008–2009: Relocation to Oklahoma City and inaugural season In 2006, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz sold the SuperSonics and their sister Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) franchise, the Seattle Storm, for $350 million to the Professional Basketball Club LLC, an Oklahoma City-based investment group led by Clay Bennett. The sale of the SuperSonics and Storm was approved by NBA ownership the following October. In 2007, Bennett announced that the franchise would move to Oklahoma City once its KeyArena lease expired. In June 2008, a lawsuit filed by the city of Seattle against Bennett over his attempts to break the Sonics' final two years of the KeyArena lease went to federal court. Nearly a month later, the two sides reached a settlement. The agreement provided the city with $45 million to exit the remaining lease at KeyArena. The new owners agreed to leave the SuperSonics name, logo, colors, and records in Seattle for a potential future NBA franchise; however, other "assets" would remain the property of the Oklahoma City team, including championship banners and trophies. On September 3, 2008, the Oklahoma City franchise's name, logo, and team colors were revealed to the public. The name "Thunder" was chosen in reference to Oklahoma's location in Tornado Alley and Oklahoma City as the home of the U.S. Army's 45th Infantry Division, the Thunderbirds. The SuperSonics' last NBA draft was in 2008, and they used the fourth overall pick to select Russell Westbrook, a young point guard from UCLA. The Thunder participated in the Orlando Pro Summer League with their second-year players, potential free agents, and rookies. Players wore generic black and white jerseys with "OKC-NBA" written over an outline of a basketball. 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 moved to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina. The Thunder played several preseason games prior to the 2008–09 regular season, but only one of those games was in Oklahoma City. In the regular season opener at home, the Thunder faced (and lost to) the Milwaukee Bucks. Earl Watson scored the new franchise's first points with a layup. Three nights later, on November 2, the Thunder won their first game by defeating the Timberwolves, improving their record to 1–3. 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. Assistant coach Scott Brooks then took over on an interim basis. Oklahoma City lost its next four games to tie the franchise's 14-game losing streak set in Seattle the previous season. But the team managed to avoid the worst by winning its next game on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies. As the season progressed, the Thunder began to improve. After starting with a 3–29 record, the Thunder finished the regular season with a 20–30 record in the remaining fifty. Not only did they win more often, but they also played much more competitively than they had in the first half of the season. The team improved its record to 23-59 and improved on its 20-62 record from last season in Seattle. The Thunder’s late-season successes contributed to the hiring of Scott Brooks as the team’s official head coach. After Seattle moved to Oklahoma City, the team’s operating situation improved significantly. In December 2008, Forbes magazine estimated the team’s franchise value at $300 million—a 12 percent increase from $268 million the previous year, when the team was located in Seattle. Forbes also noted an increase in the percentage of available tickets sold, from 78 percent in the team’s last season in Seattle to 100 percent in 2008-09. Alex