When one’s favorite team has to hang it up for the season, fans, spectators, and sometimes players reflect over the events that led to their current state. The Oklahoma City Thunder ended their season by losing 4-2 to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
To quote a colleague, there were many lessons that the Thunder can learn from this, however, there are many great things to remember. Mainly, how the Thunder came to be.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, leaving mass amounts of devastation, including the misplacing of the New Orleans Hornets. In their search for a home during the 2005-2007 seasons, the Hornets managed to land in Oklahoma City. What was most interesting is despite a total record of 77-87, the attendance for both seasons ranked in the top half of the NBA both seasons (11th and 15th, respectively). During their time representing OKC, the Hornets would host at the University of Oklahoma and the Ford Center (currently known as Paycom Center).
One could suggest that the support and excitement to host a rookie Chris Paul and soon to be All-Star David West is what fueled the purchase of the Seattle SuperSonic in 2008. It could also be suggested that this is what helped a vote pass for the new Thunder arena, helping keep Oklahoma City “big league”. You could even say this is why a guy like Chris Paul meant a lot to the current franchise and fans who watched him during his first two years in the NBA.
Despite the heartbreak of the playoffs, I can happily say that there is no team to cheer on if players like Chris Paul, David West, Desmond Mason, and more didn’t suit up and compete at the highest level in a city so many fans love.
While we aren’t sure what the summer hold for the Thunder, I would be remiss to say that “Hornets Experiment” didn’t pay off tremendously for the growth and development of Oklahoma City. That experiment even helped set the tone for the culture that is the Oklahoma City Thunder. No matter what anyone thinks, there are no playoffs, there was no KD and Russ, no OK3, no 0.3% chance in 2019, and absolutely nothing in the Paycom Arena to look forward to without the New Orleans Hornets being adopted by Oklahoma City.
