Thursday, September 4, 2008– The Seattle Super Sonics, who have moved to Oklahoma City after a rather contentious, not to mention litigious period of time, are now officially the Oklahoma City Thunder. The news was announced at a team meeting on Wednesday.
Although the news was made official on Wednesday, news about the name, not to mention the logo and even the colors, were leaked over the weekend, and merchandise also went on sale at the official NBA online store before the announcement was made.
On July 2, it had been officially announced that the SuperSonics would be moving to Oklahoma City through an agreement. The new owner, Clay Bennett, has to pay the city of Seattle up to $75 million to settle a lawsuit.
P.J. Carlesimo is the new coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder (originally having signed on to coach the Super Sonics). He first coached in the NBA in 1994, for the Portland Trail Blazers. From 1997-1999 he coached the Golden State Warriors. He was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich from 2002 to 2007.
