Eric Williams covered the Sonics' last season in Seattle. A Tacoma native, Eric graduated from Mount Tahoma High and the University of Puget Sound.
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Yep, it's true. The Sonics are no more. Enter the Thunder. Here's the AP story:
After weeks of speculation, Oklahoma City’s new NBA franchise revealed Wednesday that the team would be called Thunder.
A group of children and team members pulled down a curtain at a news conference Wednesday to reveal a large team banner as the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck” was played.
Team chairman Clay Bennett said the team colors will be blue, red and orange — blue to coincide to with the main color of Oklahoma’s state flag and red and orange to reflect the colors of the sunset.
Bennett announced July 2 that the SuperSonics would be moving to Oklahoma City as part of an agreement that settled a lawsuit with a payment of up to $75 million to the city of Seattle. The settlement ended a contentious six-day trial.
Bennett agreed to pay $45 million to Seattle immediately to break the team’s lease at KeyArena and the possibility for another $30 million if the state approves funding for a new arena but Seattle doesn’t get a new NBA franchise.
Bennett retained the rights to the SuperSonics’ name and logos, but agreed not to use them after moving to Oklahoma City. If a new NBA team arrives in Seattle, Bennett would turn over the rights to the new team’s owner at no cost, as long as it meets with NBA approval.
In addition to Thunder, the franchise had applied for trademarks to other possible team names: Bison, Energy, Wind, Marshalls and Barons.
Call it the final nail in the coffin on The Team That Used to Be Called the Sonics. Today in Oklahoma City, the franchise will announce the new nickname, logo and colors at about 3 p.m.
Stay tuned. We'll update it here.
