This franchise joined the NBA in 1967 as the Seattle SuperSonics, an expansion club that spent its first decade building toward contention before reaching back-to-back Finals in 1978 and 1979, winning the title in the latter under coach Lenny Wilkens behind players such as Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams, and Jack Sikma. A second great run arrived in the mid-1990s, when a roster led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp reached the 1996 Finals but fell to a historically dominant Chicago Bulls team. By the mid-2000s the franchise was mired in arena and financial disputes with the city of Seattle, and in 2008, under new ownership led by Clay Bennett, the team relocated to Oklahoma City and was renamed the Thunder.

In Oklahoma City, the franchise rebuilt quickly around high draft picks Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, reaching the 2012 Finals before that core was broken up through trades. A longer rebuild followed, centered on assets acquired via the Paul George trade, which eventually fueled a roster built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That young core developed into one of the league's most dominant teams in the mid-2020s, culminating in a 2025 championship over the Indiana Pacers and a division title again the following season, extending a lineage of success that spans both the Seattle and Oklahoma City eras of the same franchise.