OKLAHOMA CITY — The “Thunder Up” vibe first hit me as we were preparing to land in Oklahoma City ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.
As we landed, the flight attendant proudly said, “I’d like to be the first to welcome you to MY hometown, Oklahoma City.”
As we approached our gate, the same flight attendant exuberantly reminded us to “Thunder Up.” At the rental counter, the attendant confidently predicted that I likely would not be returning to OKC because the Thunder will defeat the Pacers in four games. The Thunder’s last-second 111-110 Game 1 loss to the Pacers guaranteed the likelihood of a return trip to Oklahoma City.
Still, Thursday’s Game 1 upset has done nothing to shake the faith of the Thunder faithful.
Exuberance is everywhere. At the Ralph Ellison Library on the city’s east side, the staff wears Thunder T-shirts. In hotels, at the restaurants, slogans and street signs promoting Thunder fever underline the connection between the city, the team and its fans.
With Oklahoma and Indiana commanding center stage for the next several days, these NBA Finals have been derided by some as a less-than-desirable battle between two small market teams. Historically, however, small market teams have been the soul of the NBA. While larger NBA cities had to fight with other pro teams to establish themselves, smallish markets with a passion for basketball became tributaries that led to the creation of the National Basketball Association.
Markets like Oklahoma City and Indianapolis continue to be the un-glitzy soul of the league, and I’m here for it. The soul of the NBA resides here.
“People will say the NBA is not happy because the Lakers or Golden State or New York, Miami or Boston aren’t in it,” said Oklahoma City native Chris Perry, a public relations executive with Southwest Airlines. “But this is what the NBA has gone for with such a strict salary cap. It’s really an egalitarian league now where anyone can compete.”
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Thunder fans cheer together and, before each game, collectively pray together. In a state largely divided — often bitterly — by college allegiance either to the University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State University, the Thunder have provided a common ground for rooting interest. Perry attended Oklahoma State and bleeds OSU Orange.
“I have just as many friends who feel the same about the Sooners,” he said, referring to the University of Oklahoma. “That’s how the state’s always been divided, and the Thunder are what unites us, and that’s really cool.”
For devout fans, the Thunder have been a connective thread and a measuring stick of the city’s growth and sophistication.
“I’ve been rooting for the Thunder since they’ve been here,” said Ericka Batson, 46, a national pharmacy technician and lead technician for CVS in Oklahoma City, who was born and raised on the city’s east side. She said the Thunder have given a far-flung community something to rally around.
“Everybody loves the Thunder right now,” she said. “They talk about how slow Oklahoma is — we’re slow, we’re this, we’re that — and now look at us. We have an NBA team in the Finals. We’re all rooting that we do win so we can have a parade in our city.”
Batson was 16 and pregnant with her first child in 1995 when Timothy McVeigh masterminded the explosion that ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 167 people and injuring 684. Nothing can erase the horror of that tragedy, yet the presence of a professional basketball team and the team’s success has helped massage the pain of that tragedy and the image of a city aware of its need to grow.
“I think it helps publicize us; free publicity is what we’re getting,” Batson said. “So, people want to come here, and of course we’re known for the bombing, unfortunately; people come to visit and see that.”
There was no professional basketball in the city at the time of the bombing. While the Thunder have become a positive force in the community, she said the Thunder’s presence primarily serves to amplify the city’s progress.
“We went all of those years without a team, but it does let you know that we’ve come up because they always say a team can’t stay unless the city can support them,” Batson said. “Oklahoma City has done a great job of supporting the Thunder.”
Award-winning chef Andrew Black moved to Oklahoma City from Memphis in 2007 and opened the Pearl Mesta restaurant at the Skirvin Hotel. He subsequently opened Black Walnut and Grey Sweater. In 2023, he was honored as the Best Chef in the Southwest region by the James Beard Foundation. When the Thunder came to Oklahoma City, Black was the first chef to cater a function for the team at the Skirvin.
“Oklahoma is a place where people matter,” Black said. “We’re a team, we’re a community and this team matters to us because they came here and they fit right into the community. They’re not these flashy players. They are humble people. We see them as someone we can relate to.”
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Hornets relocated to Oklahoma City in 2005 and stayed from 2005 through 2007. The team was known as the as the New Orleans/Oklahoma Hornets.
The Thunder moved to OKC from Seattle in 2008. The team won its first division in 2010-2011, its first Western Conference championship in the 2011-2012 season, and made the franchise’s first Finals appearance as the Thunder in 2012. They lost to the Miami Heat 4-1.
For a medium-sized city, the Thunder have seen a number of great players pass through: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul. In 2016, the Thunder reached the conference finals and lost after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Golden State Warriors. That was the beginning of the end of what most fans felt would be a dynasty.
Durant left in 2016 for the Golden State Warriors. The collapse was particularly distressing for Batson.
“It really hurt,” she said. “I really thought they were going to win it. It was like, OK, we’re pushing, we’re doing it, we’re gonna make it. I think everybody counted their chickens before the eggs hatched.
“I mean, things happen, you know, and I think it was too many egos at that point on the team, and everybody wanted to be the superstar, and you just have to come together as a team. I think with this younger team now, they understand that, and it’s a family. It’s not, ‘I’m bigger, better than you. We’re all one. We all have to come and do it together.’ ”
The new era began in 2019 when the Thunder traded George for a collection of first-round picks. The centerpiece of the trade was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this year’s NBA Most Valuable Player.
In the intervening seasons, Oklahoma City’s climb to the Finals has been slow but steady. Last season, the Thunder lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals. Through the ups and downs, Thunder fans have never lost faith, though Black said Thursday’s last-second loss to the Pacers was tough to take.
“When we lost, I had a hard time sleeping,” Black said. “A very hard time. I had to tell myself in the middle of the night, ‘OK Andrew, it’s a game.’ ”
Like the majority of Thunder fans, Black is convinced that Oklahoma City will prevail, eventually. “I know we’re going to bounce back because we are built strong,” he said. “The entire state of Oklahoma is built strong and these players are built strong.”
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The attachment goes beyond whether the Thunder win an NBA championship. The connection between team and city will endure.
“Everybody talks about it, no matter where you go you hear about the Oklahoma City Thunder,” Black said. “Go to New York, go anywhere, you have on a Thunder shirt and people say, ‘Oh, Oklahoma.’ So, it becomes another big step to becoming this top-tier city. This is a lifeline for us now.”
Thunder fans don’t care any more about their team than New York fans care for the Knicks, Los Angeles fans care about the Lakers, or Boston fans care about the Celtics. There is, however, a more intimate attachment between team and city.
At her CVS store on the east side of the city, Batson will have to reassure her customers that even after the Thunder’s shocking Game 1 loss to the Pacers, everything is going to be alright.
“You know, some of my customers come in here upset, mad about it, and I’m like, ‘Hey, we got this. We’re gonna get it,’ ” Batson said. “They’re like ‘No, they’re messing up. They’re messing up.’ I’m like, ‘No, we got this.’ ”
She tells them to take a deep breath and Thunder Up.