Sam Anderson, a staff writer for The Times Magazine, first wrote about the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012. He is the author of “Boom Town” (2018), a book about the team and the city it calls home.

And in the Pacific Northwest, a fan base may very well be wondering what might have been. With the Finals here, it is a good time to take a look back and revisit how the Seattle SuperSonics found their way to Oklahoma City,

The NBA Finals start Thursday night and will feature a team with something in common with the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, the only team to bring a championship to Rip City. The Oklahoma City Thunder enter their series with the Indiana Pacers as the second youngest team in NBA history to reach the Finals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has found his biggest cheerleader in wife Hailey Summers. The Oklahoma City Thunder guard married Summers in February 2024. They welcomed their son Ares in April of the same year.

"We'll look at everything," OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. "We'll look at anything we can to try to give ourselves the best chance to win."