Moving a sports franchise is an involved process these days, with both players and staffers force to uproot their lives and make a huge shift. For many, the shift from cosmopolitan Seattle to the smaller Oklahoma City area has been a difficult transition.
Shifting operations from Seattle to Oklahoma City was a much more involved process than just hanging out a new shingle at Ford Center, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: players, coaches and front-office staffers were forced to uproot families and find new places to live in a relatively short amount of time.
Some, like coach P.J. Carlesimo, decided to leave their families behind in Seattle. With kids enrolled in schools they like, Carlesimo didn’t want to uproot his kids for the third time in three years, so he’ll be staying alone in Oklahoma City. Two players who had set on Seattle as their year-round residences decided not to make the permanent shift to Oklahoma City, either.
"The move for me is almost like being traded. It’s a new city, you have to adjust really quickly, you have to pick up, you have to fit in, and you have to make it happen. And I want to make this special, too. You try to find your niche within a city, because I had my routine in Seattle. Downtown, there’s where I lived, that’s where I spent most of my days," said guard Earl Watson, in his second stint with the franchise. "You definitely miss Seattle … but at the same time, you embrace the city here and the fans that want to support you."
