The start of 2008-09 basketball season was the first year of the Oklahoma City Thunder coming from the Seattle SuperSonics. The SuperSonics had to relocate after failing to find public funding to construct a new arena in the Seattle area. The Thunder have had success in their ten year with qualifying for their first playoff berth during the 2009-10 season. They won their first division title as the Thunder in the 2010-11 season and their first Western conference championship as the Thunder in 2011-12 season, appearing in the NBA Finals for the first time as the Thunder. Who with this success could have their number retired?

Well the Thunder have had many great players in their programs such as Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Paul George, or even Steven Adams. Yes, I do understand that Thunder Nation would never allow Kevin Durant’s number to be retired after his controversial free agency, but he was a great player for their success. So please Thunder Nation no negative comments about how Kevin Durant is a disgrace, and maybe that grudge can finally be forgotten. The player selected for their jersey to be retired isn’t listed above bleive it or not. The player selected is Nick Collison with his number 4 being retired. WHAT?? How could Nick Collison be the first number they retire? Well lets see why they would select him.

Nick Collison spent his entire career with the SuperSonics/Thunder which lasted 14 seasons. He is in no-one’s book for a future Hall of Famer, but he does rank 3rd in games played. He also was apart of the merge and showed his veteran leadership throughout the transition. That’s about everything that needs to be explained about his career because he wasn’t a dominant double-double type of guy, and didn’t have any huge moments in his career. So why are the Thunder rushing to retire a number if isn’t a player that had a Hall of Fame career? Is this the first number being retired based on participation? That question can only be answered by the Thunder Organization, but who do you thinks number will be retired next?