After the team agreed to a settlement with the city of Seattle to break the last two years of its KeyArena lease agreement, Sonics chairman Clay Bennett finally achieved his goal of bringing professional basketball to his hometown of Oklahoma City.
"We made it," a smiling Bennett said in Oklahoma City during a press conference announcing the team's relocation. Now, general manager Sam Presti has to get down to the nuts and bolts of finding a practice facility and getting his young team ready for the team's inaugural season in its new city.
Most of the team's stuff remains in Seattle while Presti works to transition basketball operations to Oklahoma City, with no definitive timetable set for moving vans to show up to the team's practice facility in Seattle, the Furtado Center.
Presti wouldn't say when the moving trucks will clear the Sonics' stuff from Seattle into a still-to-be-located facility in Oklahoma City.
"We're operating to keep the business running, and it's starting to be transitioned," Presti said, "... and we're quickly transitioning everything as fast as we can.
"We're more concerned with what's inside the jersey than what's on the outside for us right now. I'm sure we'll have a great name."
Presti said within the next month the team is hopeful it will establish new team colors, a logo and a new mascot.
On the basketball floor, the Sonics took another step in that direction by playing in the Orlando Summer League, with new draft picks Russell Westbrook and D.J. White donning generic black-and-white jerseys with "Oklahoma City" on their chest for the first time.
Westbrook has been perhaps the most pleasant surprise during league play. Drafted No. 4 overall by the Sonics, some NBA observers thought the team reached by picking Westbrook that high. But so far Westbrook has proved he can play, showing an innate ability to get to the basket and finish, and playing with a speed and athleticism that should make him an immediate impact player in his rookie season.
Sonics mainstay Kevin Durant, on hand to watch his teammates, was so impressed he decided to play in the second day of summer league to get used to his new teammates. Durant's fellow teammate Jeff Green also participated in summer league games in Orlando.
"I knew (Westbrook) was a good defensive player and really athletic, but I didn't know he was this good," Durant said. "He's shown me a lot, and I'm already excited about playing with him."
Westbrook was averaging 16.5 points, 3.5 assists and 1.5 turnovers a game early in summer league play. The Sonics' other first-round draft pick playing in Orlando, D.J. White, was averaging eight points and five rebounds a game.
