The End of an Era: Evaluating OKC’s success since leaving Seattle

Now that’ it’s the end of an era for the Oklahoma City Thunder, let’s evaluate the team’s success after leaving Seattle

In 2008, the Supersonics ended their 41-year run in Seattle and moved the franchise to Oklahoma City, rebranding as the Thunder. The move was controversial, the kind that simultaneously took the air out of one city while breathing new life into another. It also breathed new life into the team, who subsequently reached a level of success in Oklahoma City that they hadn’t seen in Seattle for decades.

Maybe the move had something to do with that or maybe it was just a coincidence, but the success the Oklahoma City Thunder have had since their inception is undeniable…and perhaps over for the near future. The Thunder, of course, spent this offseason making moves that sacrificed their short term success in an effort to set themselves up for the future.

One of these moves was trading Russell Westbrook, who was the last in a long line of future hall of famers in OKC to leave the team.

The Westbrook trade will serve as the tangible moment in which the Thunder’s enormously successful run since leaving Seattle ended. It’s truly the end of an era in OKC. An era that’s seen historic success, improbable failures, and the occasional head scratching move.

It’s been a truly unique run and now that it’s over, it seems apropos to take a look back the key moments as well as try to wrap our heads around what we’ve seen over the past 11 years down in Oklahoma.