Thunder’s Tulsa tradition resumes as regular-season question lingers

The Thunder will “return to Tulsa” for the 16th time this fall as the team will host a 2026-27 preseason game against the Pelicans at the BOK Center on Oct. 6, according to Bill Haisten of the TULSA WORLD. Last year, a “crumbling of an arrangement” for the Thunder to face an international opponent in Tulsa left the city without a preseason event. Most of the games in Tulsa have been “well attended,” and for six of those games, there was a crowd of “at least 17,000.” The Thunder-in-Tulsa preseason games are a “popular staple on the sports calendar.” There is still the question of why the Thunder does not “play at least one regular-season game each season in Tulsa.” Haisten: “If the San Antonio Spurs can play regular-season games in Austin each year, why can’t the Thunder do the same in Tulsa?” In 2028, the Thunder moves to a new downtown OKC arena -- the Continental Coliseum. That building “should be a revenue-generating monster.” When OKC officials lobbied in 2008 for NBA approval on moving the organization to Oklahoma, there were “promises that Tulsa would be an engaged, supportive partner.” Haisten: “Might Tulsa get a Thunder regular-season game in 2026-27? We’ll find out when the schedule is formulated this season. If Tulsa really is considered an important Thunder partner, it should happen every season” (TULSA WORLD, 3/30).