The Oklahoma City Thunder is an American professional basketball franchise based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It plays in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was known as the Seattle SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008. The team plays its home games at the Paycom Center. [1] The Thunder is owned by Professional Basketball Club LLC with Sam Presti as its general manager. The team was formed in 1967. After spending 41 seasons in Seattle, Washington, the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City. Owner Clay Bennett, who purchased the team in 2006, sought to get public funding for a new arena in Seattle, or a major renovation of the KeyArena in 2007. After failing to do so, he decided to move the team to Oklahoma City. [2] Seattle sued Bennett's group to enforce the lease that required the team to stay until 2010. The two sides reached a $45 million settlement to pay off the team's lease with KeyArena in July 2008. [3] [4]
There have been 16 head coaches for the Thunder franchise. The franchise won its only NBA championship in the 1979 NBA Finals while coached by Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens. Wilkens is the only member of the franchise to have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. [5] He is also the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached, regular-season games won, playoff games coached, and playoff games won. Wilkens, Paul Westphal, Nate McMillan and Bob Weiss formerly played for the team in Seattle. [6] [7] [8] Former head coach Scott Brooks is the only coach to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award with the franchise. [9]
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
Win% | Winning percentage |
# | Number of coaches |
* | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the SuperSonics/Thunder |
† | Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2021–22 season.
# | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
Seattle SuperSonics | |||||||||||||||
1 | Al Bianchi | 1967–1969 | 164 | 53 | 111 | .323 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [10] | ||||
2 | Lenny Wilkens † | 1969–1972 (as player-coach) | 246 | 121 | 125 | .492 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [11] | [5] | |||
3 | Tom Nissalke | 1972 | 45 | 13 | 32 | .289 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [12] | ||||
4 | Bucky Buckwalter | 1973 | 37 | 13 | 24 | .351 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [13] | ||||
5 | Bill Russell † | 1973–1977 | 328 | 162 | 166 | .494 | 15 | 6 | 9 | .400 | [14] | ||||
6 | Bob Hopkins * | 1977 | 22 | 5 | 17 | .227 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [15] | ||||
— | Lenny Wilkens † | 1977–1985 | 634 | 357 | 277 | .563 | 69 | 37 | 32 | .536 | 1 NBA championship (1979) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [11] | [5] | |||
7 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 1985–1990 | 410 | 202 | 208 | .493 | 27 | 12 | 15 | .444 | [16] | ||||
8 | K. C. Jones | 1990–1991 | 118 | 59 | 59 | .500 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | [17] | ||||
9 | Bob Kloppenburg | 1991 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [18] | ||||
10 | George Karl † | 1991–1998 | 534 | 384 | 150 | .719 | 80 | 40 | 40 | .500 | [19] | ||||
11 | Paul Westphal | 1998–2000 | 147 | 76 | 71 | .517 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | [20] | ||||
12 | Nate McMillan | 2000–2005 | 395 | 212 | 183 | .537 | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | [21] | ||||
13 | Bob Weiss | 2005 | 30 | 13 | 17 | .433 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [22] | ||||
14 | Bob Hill | 2006–2007 | 134 | 53 | 81 | .396 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [23] | ||||
15 | P. J. Carlesimo | 2007–2008 | 82 | 20 | 62 | .244 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [24] | ||||
Oklahoma City Thunder | |||||||||||||||
— | P. J. Carlesimo | 2008 | 13 | 1 | 12 | .077 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | [24] | ||||
16 | Scott Brooks | 2008–2015 | 545 | 338 | 207 | .620 | 73 | 39 | 34 | .534 | 2009–10 NBA Coach of the Year [9] | [25] | |||
17 | Billy Donovan | 2015–2020 | 400 | 243 | 157 | .608 | 41 | 18 | 23 | .439 | [26] | ||||
18 | Mark Daigneault | 2020–present | 236 | 86 | 150 | .364 | — | — | — | – |
Leonard Randolph Wilkens is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team," for which he was an assistant coach. In 1996, Wilkens was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team, and in 2021 he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. In addition, in 2022 he was also named to the list of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History, being the only person to be in both NBA 75th season celebration list as player and coach. He is also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Nathaniel McMillan is an American basketball coach and former player who previously served as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He coached the Seattle SuperSonics from 2000 to 2005, the Portland Trail Blazers from 2005 to 2012, and the Indiana Pacers from 2016 to 2020. He spent his entire 12-year NBA playing career with the SuperSonics, then served as an assistant coach for one-and-a-half years and as head coach for almost five years. His long tenure as a player and coach in Seattle earned him the nickname "Mr. Sonic".
Scott William Brooks is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the top assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he won an NBA championship with the Houston Rockets in 1994.
Rodney King Thorn is an American basketball executive and a former professional player and coach, Olympic Committee Chairman, with a career spanning over 50 years. In 2018, Thorn was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Fred Brown, nicknamed "Downtown Freddie Brown", is an American former professional basketball player. A 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) guard from the University of Iowa, he played 13 seasons (1971–1984) in the NBA, all with the Seattle SuperSonics. Known for his accurate outside shooting, Brown was selected to the 1976 NBA All-Star Game and scored 14,018 points in his career.
Walter Frederick Walker is an American former professional basketball player. He is best known for his National Basketball Association (NBA) career – both as a player and as a front office executive for the Seattle SuperSonics.
Samuel Presti is an American basketball executive who is currently the executive vice president and general manager for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has held the position since 2007 when he was hired at 29 years old, making him the second-youngest person to ever hold the position in the NBA. Since 2007, he stands as the third-most tenured head of basketball operations in the league.
The 2007–08 Seattle SuperSonics season was the 41st and final season of the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the franchise's final season of play in Seattle before relocating to Oklahoma City to play as the Thunder. With the hiring of new head coach P. J. Carlesimo as replacement of Bob Hill, who was fired at the end of the previous season, the SuperSonics finished in 15th and last place in the Western Conference with a franchise worst 20–62 record. Seattle's first round draft pick and number two overall Kevin Durant was chosen as the Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and later as a member of the Western Conference's Pacific (1970–2004) and Northwest (2004–2008) divisions. After the 2007–08 season ended, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, where they now play as the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 1967 NBA expansion draft was the third expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 1, 1967, so that the newly founded San Diego Rockets and Seattle SuperSonics could acquire players for the upcoming 1967–68 season. Seattle and San Diego had been awarded the expansion teams on December 20, 1966, and January 11, 1967, respectively. The Rockets moved to Houston, Texas, in 1971 and are currently known as the Houston Rockets. The SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City, in 2008 and are currently known as the Oklahoma City Thunder. In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. The Rockets and the Sonics selected fifteen unprotected players each, while the ten other NBA teams lost three players each.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Paycom Center.
Professional Basketball Club LLC is an investment group headed by Clay Bennett that owns the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Oklahoma City Thunder franchise and the Thunder's NBA G League affiliate Oklahoma City Blue. The group also owned the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s Seattle Storm franchise from 2006 to 2008. The PBC then sold the Storm to local Seattle owners, before relocating the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma City Thunder is a professional American basketball franchise based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It plays in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise was the Seattle SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008 until relocated to Oklahoma City. The team plays its home games at the Paycom Center. The Thunder is owned by Professional Basketball Club LLC and coached by Mark Daigneault, with Sam Presti as its General Manager. All records and achievements shown have been accomplished in Oklahoma City.
The 1971–72 Seattle SuperSonics season was the 5th season of the Seattle SuperSonics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In their third season with Lenny Wilkens as head coach, the Sonics finished the regular season in sixth place in the Western Conference with a 47–35 record, their first winning record in franchise history. Wilkens quit as head coach at the end of the season and was replaced by former Dallas Chaparrals coach Tom Nissalke.