New Thunder jersey highlights organization’s move to modernity

This offseason has brought an evolution within the OKC Thunder organization. We can thank Kevin Durant for that one.

Starting this season there’s a new franchise in Oklahoma City. Don’t take my word for it though – take the OKC Thunder organizations’.

The #ThunderFWD social media campaign is just one of many new strategies the team has employed this offseason. There are the billboards across Oklahoma City promoting a “new era” of Thunder basketball. And now we have the new Nike Statement jersey to push the team’s brand into a new light.

https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/908869302547243008

Since moving to Oklahoma City, the Thunder have been one of the most bland franchises in the league. It wasn’t by accident though. Sam Presti, the Thunder’s General Manager, learned the craft under R.C Buford, the Spurs General Manager. Like San Antonio, Oklahoma City is a small market that needed to adopt a different brand than other teams in order to achieve success. For Presti that meant focusing solely on basketball and the community. Take away most media opportunities, limit time spent on random content for fans and bring in focused players: that was the recipe for success.

But then Kevin Durant, the man they built the entire organization around, left. Oklahoma City was an incubator for basketball and basketball only – KD wanted more. More time to talk to the media, more business opportunities, more fun. Blindsided, the Thunder had to change their marketing strategy for the 2016-2017 season on the fly. Russell Westbrook and his extended contract was the easy answer.

The renovation begins

Last season was the Thunder’s trial run at being “cool.” They failed fairly miserably. Complex named their Twitter the worst in the NBA. The team rode Russell Westbrook’s incredible season, but didn’t translate his “Why Not?” attitude into their own brand. That’s the change we’re witnessing this offseason.

Oklahoma City is home to two of the 15 best basketball players in the world – both happen to be free agents next offseason. The Thunder can offer everything a basketball team needs – great front office/coaching, fantastic facilities, an elite roster – but not the extra amenities of a big-time market. To make up for that OKC is building a new brand for themselves, a more modern one that fits their renegade persona in the league.

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The #ThunderFWD hashtag was a good start, but the new “Statement” jersey makes that message clear. After nine seasons of nondescript, boring, archaic jerseys Oklahoma City finally has something that the rest of the league is jealous of. The primary and secondary colors have always been capable of something like this, but it took a risk from the organization to make the jersey a reality. Finally they asked themselves Why Not?

Just the start

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There’s only so much brand-building a team can do in the offseason. The true transformation will come once the season starts. Like last season expect more features on Oklahoma City players, especially Paul George. Don’t be surprised if social media – mostly Instagram – gets a nice little boost. The big change, however, will come in how they promote their team on a national scale.

Unlike last season, this isn’t going to be the Russell Westbrook show. They are going to market themselves as the franchise who drafted perfectly, lost nearly everything but re-built themselves in one season to re-compete. On the court they’ll be a highly athletic team that pushes the ball in transition and clamps down on defense. And they’ll do that in the fourth-most nationally televised games of any team.

The Thunder made a Statement to the league with their newest jersey from Nike. Continue that process and it could change the way players view the organization and the city. At some point organizations must look past the fans and think about the very players that make up their team – that’s what OKC started this offseason.