Old Sonics start anew

ORLANDO, Fla. – The uniforms arrived in time, black mesh with white stripes along the sides, the words “Oklahoma City” across the front of the jersey and atop a simple NBA logo.

Around the bench, there was barely any SuperSonics green or gold in sight.

And with that, Oklahoma City’s latest NBA storyline got off to a simple start.

A week ago, these players would have been called the Seattle SuperSonics. Now, they’re from Oklahoma City, nickname to be announced. And on Monday, in the first game of the Orlando summer league, the former Sonics franchise took its first steps along the road of relocation, in a glorified scrimmage for rookies and other young pros.

“It’s all happened so fast,” Oklahoma City rookie point guard Russell Westbrook said. “It’s something you have to live with. It happened so fast. I’m very excited to be in the position I am now.”

Oklahoma City lost its summer league opener to the Indiana Pacers 95-78.

Other than green trim on the sneakers of Westbrook and Ronald Dupree, and one person on the Oklahoma City bench wearing a pair of Seattle game trunks, the team bore no resemblance to the one that would have been here representing Seattle.

Oklahoma City’s first basket came 2:15 into the first quarter by D.J. White, who’s probably looked at a fair bit of real estate around the country the last two weeks, considering he was drafted by Detroit, traded to Seattle and will play in Oklahoma City.

It’s not like he, Westbrook or anyone else has much choice in the matter.

“I’m very excited to be a Sonic,” Westbrook said on draft night.

And now?

Well, Westbrook is still excited to be, um, something.

“I don’t know what,” he said.