Following Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Hornets needed a temporary home, while New Orleans recovered, Oklahoma City was chosen, as they had recently built a new arena, the Ford Center. For two seasons, the Hornets played a majority of their games in Oklahoma City.

The year they returned full time to New Orleans, coincided with the continued arena troubles of the Seattle Supersonics, who were purchased by Oklahoma City Businessman Clay Bennett with the ultimate goal of moving the team. When Seattle did not agree to build a new arena, Bennett used it as an excuse to move the team to Oklahoma City.

After a short legal battle, Bennett settled with the city of Seattle, leaving behind the old name and colors for a new team to use someday while bringing Oklahoma City a team of their own, a team called the Thunder. The Thunder played their first game on October 29th, losing to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Ford Center 98-87.

After a road loss to the Houston Rockets, the Thunder earned their first win by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 88-85. However, in the early going wins would be rare as the Thunder dropped their next ten games before Coach P.

J. Carlesimo was fired on November 22nd.

Under new Coach Scott Brooks, the Thunder would not do much better, as their losing streak reached 14 games before they earned their second win with a 111-103 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on the road. The Thunder would continue to struggle in December, losing 13 of their next 14 games as they held a 3-29 record before beating the Golden State Warriors 107-100 on New Year's Eve.

As the calendar changed, the Thunder started to play better, posting a 7-7 record in January. The Thunder would go on to finish in last place in the Northwest Division with a 23-59 record.

Despite the poor record, Kevin Durant finished among the league leaders in scoring at 25. 3 ppg.