2008–09 Oklahoma City Thunder season

NBA season
team = Oklahoma City Thunder
end_year = 2009
wins = 0
losses = 0
division = Northwest
division_place = TBD
conf_place = TBD
coach = P. J. Carlesimo
arena = Ford Center
playoffs = TBD

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play its inaugural season in the 2008-09 NBA season. It will be the team's first season in Oklahoma City since the Seattle SuperSonics relocation was approved by league owners prior to settling a lawsuit. The team will play at the Ford Center.

Oklahoma City hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons, due to Hurricane Katrina's devastaion along the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

Key dates

*June 26: The 2008 NBA Draft took place in New York City, New York.
*July 1: The free agency period started.
*July 2: The Seattle SuperSonics announced their immediate relocation to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
*September 3 The team announced its name and colors
*October 8 The Oklahoma City Thunder took the court for the first time in an 88-82 [cite news | url=http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/10/09/sports/local/18-wolves.txt | title=T'Wolves Play Spoiler | first=Phil | last=Sites | publisher=Billings Gazette | date=2008-10-08 | accessdate=2008-10-09 ] preseason loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Billings, Montana.
*October 29 The Oklahoma City Thunder will play their first regular season game ever, hosting the Milwaukee Bucks.

Offseason

* Oklahoma City rookies and other young professionals played in the first game of the Orlando summer league. Oklahoma City lost its summer league opener to the Indiana Pacers rookies by a score of 95-78. Earl Calloway scored 16 points and Andre Emmett had 15 for the Pacers, who scored the game's first eight points and never trailed. [http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Basketball/NBA/2008/07/07/6092316-ap.html CANOE - SLAM! Sports - Basketball - NBA: Former SuperSonics starting over ] ] Jeff Green took the first shot in Oklahoma City's history and it bounced off the rim 43 seconds after tipoff. The first basket came 2:15 into the first quarter by D.J. White, who was drafted by Detroit, traded to Seattle and will play in Oklahoma City.
* The Oklahoma City franchise released its season-ticket prices on Thursday, August 14. The franchise announced that there will be 3,400 seats available at $10 per game. [http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Basketball/NBA/2008/08/14/6454111-ap.html]
**On average, ticket prices will be about 36 per cent higher than they were for the 2007-08 Seattle SuperSonics season. The announcement also stated that the average ticket price would be US$47.51 while Seattle's average ticket price last season was $35. [http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Basketball/NBA/2008/08/14/6454111-ap.html] While last year's NBA average ticket price at $48.83, Oklahoma City's rates below the league average.
** Season tickets went on sale on Monday, September 8. Chairman Clay Bennett announced that the last of the 13,000 season tickets available were sold on Friday, September 12, and the team started a waiting list for season tickets. [cite news|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3585230 |title= Waiting list begun for Oklahoma City season tickets |author=Associated Press |publisher="ESPN.com" |date=2008-09-13 |accessdate=2008-09-13]

Pre-season

* The Oklahoma City Thunder made their debut in an 88-82 preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 8, 2008.

First pre-season game

basketballbox|bg=#eee |date=October 8, 2008 |place=Rimrock Auto Arena, Billings |attendance=3,817 |referee=Leroy Richardson, David Jones, Eric Dalen |TV=KSBI
team1=Oklahoma City Thunder |score1=82
team2=Minnesota Timberwolves |score2=88
Q1=13-24 |Q2=28-16 |Q3=22-20 |Q4=19-28
points1=Damien Wilkins 19 |points2=Rashad McCants 15
rebounds1=Kevin Durant, Johan Petro 7 each |rebounds2=Al Jefferson 9
assist1=Earl Watson 4 |assist2=Mike Miller 5
*Kevin Durant took and made the first shot in Oklahoma City history.
*The Thunder will have their home debut on October 14, 2008 against the Los Angeles Clippers. [ [http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-nba-team-to-face-hectic-pace-in-preseason/article/3282760/?tm=1218596987 Oklahoma City NBA team to face hectic pace in preseason] ] update after|2008|10|08

Draft picks

Free Agents

Additions

col-end

References

ee also

*Seattle SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City
*2008–09 NBA season