The Thunder resides in the Northwest Division, which made sense when the franchise was named the Sonics and made the Pacific Northwest home. Oklahoma City, two time zones removed from Seattle, is squarely in Southwest Division country.
It would have made sense to group the Thunder with Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and New Orleans, but of course it wasn't that easy. The legal wrangling involved with the Sonics' relocation and the late start of the team's offseason move made realignment for this season impossible.
The NBA didn't have the time do redo divisions when schedules had to be hashed out for the 2008-09 campaign. The league had one schedule if the team stayed in Seattle and another for Oklahoma City.
http://www.nba.com/2...ider/index.html
I don't really mind it, but I kind of still want Phoenix in our division still.
