The Oklahoma City NBA franchise announced today that the team has waived forward Donyell Marshall.
InsideHoops.com says: At this point in his career Marshall is basically useful as a big guy to come off the bench, fire an outside shot or two, grab a board, foul someone, and sit down.

The AP reports: Clay Bennett’s ownership group has reached a final settlement with the city of Seattle, allowing the former SuperSonics franchise to move to Oklahoma City. Attorneys filed a document Tuesday in Seattle federal court noting that the parties had agreed to pay their own court costs after reaching the settlement. Bennett announced last month that a settlement was being negotiated that would involve him making a payment of up to $75 million to Seattle to get out of the final two years of a lease at KeyArena. At that time, he had expected the settlement to be finalized by Aug. 1. Instead, an extension was sought from the court and terms weren’t reached until now.
InsideHoops.com editor says: I’d like to announce today that I have decided to sue the OKC team. I’m not sure why yet, but everyone else is, and being human I too sometimes feel an occasional need to fit in with the crowd.  But seriously, I’m still not sure about “Thunder” as a name, if that does turn out to be it. It’s cool enough. I can definitely live with it. And thunder is certainly an awe-inspiring thing. So, maybe it works. All names need time to grow on you. Fungus takes time to grow, too. So do beautiful trees, though. Wait, what was the question?

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Greg Johns) reports: Sonics fans pursuing a class-action suit against Clay Bennett have laid out exactly what they’re seeking from the Oklahoma City ownership group: free tickets for the next two seasons of basketball at the Ford Center. In the latest legal volley from the lawyers representing three Sonics season ticket holders, Seattle attorney Frederick Schoepflin outlined a potential remedy for U.S. District Judge Richard Jones. Noting it would be extremely difficult to force the team back to Seattle in order to fulfill its promise to provide tickets for the same guaranteed price at KeyArena through the 2009-10 season, Schoepflin suggested an appropriate solution would be offering nearly 1,400 Sonics fans tickets at Oklahoma City’s arena at those same prices for the next two years.

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed center Francisco Elson to a contract, General Manager John Hammond announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Elson (7-0, 240) comes to the Bucks after splitting the 2007-08 season with San Antonio and Seattle.
“Francisco is a player of high character who will bring length and athleticism to the front line,” said Hammond.  “In addition, he has extensive playoff experience and has been part of an NBA Championship team.  He knows what it takes to be a part of a winning team and we welcome a player with his level of experience.”
Elson, 32, began last season with San Antonio and appeared in 41 games with averages of 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds before a February trade sent him to Seattle.  He played 22 games for the Sonics and posted averages of 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Elson was originally drafted by Denver in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft (41st overall).  He went overseas to play four years in Spain before joining the Nuggets, spending time with FC Barcelona (1999-2001), Pamesa Valencia (2001-02), and Caja San Fernando (2002-03).  He joined the Nuggets prior to the 2003-04 season and went on to play three seasons in Denver before signing with the Spurs prior to the 2006-07 season.  He posted career-high averages in points (5.0) and rebounds (4.8) while appearing in 70 games in his only full season with San Antonio.  He appeared in all 20 of San Antonio’s playoff games (8 starts) during their run to the 2007 NBA Championship.  He logged 230 minutes of playing time and posted averages of 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds while also becoming the first Dutch player to win an NBA title.
In five NBA seasons, Elson owns career averages of 4.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 334 games.  He has 30 games of playoff experience with Denver and San Antonio, and owns playoff career averages of 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds.
Prior to entering the 1999 NBA Draft, Elson enjoyed a two-year stint at the University of California, which included an NIT Championship during his senior year in 1999.  In two seasons with the Bears he averaged 5.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 59 games.  He played his first two seasons of college basketball at Kilgore Junior College.
Elson is a native of the Netherlands and is fluent in Dutch, Spanish, German, South American Suriname and English.

Oklahoma’s first glimpse at its new NBA team comes on Oct. 13 when the team plays a preseason game against the Houston Rockets at the new BOK Center in downtown Tulsa. Although the Oklahoma City franchise will technically be the visiting team for the game against the Rockets, it will be the first time they will play in the state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City’s full preseason schedule will be released later this week.
“Tulsa is an important part of Oklahoma’s NBA success and the BOK Center is an important part of Tulsa’s future,” said Clay Bennett, chairman of the Oklahoma City franchise. “We are thrilled that Tulsa and its new first class arena are able to host the first chance for fans in Oklahoma to see their new team on the court. The people of Tulsa have shown that they are committed to making the NBA work in Oklahoma, and having the chance to host a preseason game this year is a direct result of their commitment and excitement.”
Bennett made the announcement at the BOK Center joined by Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor and BOK Center General Manager John Bolton.

The Oklahoma City NBA franchise acquired guard Kyle Weaver in a trade with the Charlotte Bobcats, it was announced today by the team’s General Manager Sam Presti. Weaver was selected 38th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Bobcats. In exchange for Weaver, Oklahoma City sent New Jersey’s 2009 2nd round pick to Charlotte. Oklahoma City held New Jersey’s second round pick following a July 2006 trade which sent Mikki Moore to the Nets.
“We’re pleased to add Kyle Weaver to our organization,” Presti said. “He is a young player with a defensive mentality and team-first approach to the game. We are excited to add these qualities to our team in Oklahoma City.”
Weaver was named Second Team All-Pac 10 as a senior at Washington State University. He was also named to the conference All-Defensive team and earned All-Pac 10 honors as a junior. He is the first player in Pac-10 history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 175 steals and 75 blocked shots in a career. He finished his collegiate career ranked second in assists in Washington State history with 465, third in steals with 188, seventh in blocked shots with 93 and 17th in scoring with 1,162 points. He also participated with USA Basketball in the 2007 Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In four years at Washington State University, Weaver led the Cougars to a 75-50 overall record. In his junior and senior seasons, the Cougars went 52-17 overall including two trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars went to the Sweet Sixteen in his senior season in last year’s tournament where Weaver averaged 13.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists in three tournament games.

The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports: The NBA’s Web site all but confirmed Thunder would be the nickname of Oklahoma City’s NBA team on Wednesday morning — but by Wednesday afternoon, the evidence was gone. By Wednesday afternoon, the word Thunder was nowhere to be found on the Oklahoma City schedule page, and all of the links pointed to www.nba.com/oklahomacity. Oklahoma City NBA team spokesman Dan Mahoney’s comment Wednesday was similar to previous comments. “We’re not going to comment on the name until we’re ready to announce something,” Mahoney said.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Greg Johns) reports: Attorneys for the city of Seattle and Clay Bennett’s Professional Basketball Club agreed Wednesday to extend the deadline for completing the settlement agreement that allowed the Sonics to end their KeyArena lease and move to Oklahoma City. The PBC and city initially set an Aug. 1 date to wrap up their July 3 settlement, but now have asked Judge Marsha Pechman to extend that to Aug. 18. Additionally, Pechman’s original Order of Dismissal listed Aug. 6 as the deadline to reopen the case. That date now would be Aug. 25. The additional time is needed in part because of the possibility of a voters’ referendum on the City Council’s approval of the settlement.

The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports: Oklahoma City will be one of only four NBA teams without any Saturday home games. The defending NBA champion Boston Celtics, the runner-up Los Angeles Lakers and the Toronto Raptors are the only other NBA teams without any Saturday home games. “I don’t like it at all,” Hill said. “It’s hard to make it down to Oklahoma City to go to a game during the week.” The NBA compiled Oklahoma City’s schedule from a list of available Ford Center dates submitted to the league by arena management as agreed to by the team. Teams play 41 regular-season home games, but out of the 75 possible home dates submitted to the NBA, only one was a Saturday, according to schedule maker Matt Winick, NBA vice president of operations.

The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports: Serge Ibaka, the No. 24 overall pick in this year’s draft, has signed a three-year contract with a professional team in Spain. Ibaka’s contract with Ricoh Manresa has NBA buyout clauses at the end of each season that could allow him to join Oklahoma City’s franchise before the deal expires. Financial terms of the contract and buyout clauses are unknown, but under NBA rules teams can pay up to $500,000 to buy out a player from a foreign team.