OKC Thunder announces fan policy for 2021-22 NBA Season

The OKC Thunder will play their first home game in front of fans in three weeks when the team welcomes the Hornets to the Paycom Center. This will be the first time since March 2020 that fans will enter the stadium and have a chance to watch their hometown team.

Last year, then called the Chesapeake Energy Arena, was a fan-less environment for all 72-games of the 2020-21 pandemic season. A year in which the team went 22-50 under first-year coach Mark Daigneault but saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander turn into a star, Lu Dort find some offensive momentum and the NBA Twitter Star Aleksej Pokusevski rise to fame.

OKC Thunder announce fan policy for 2021-22 NBA Season

The team announced today that the Paycom Center will welcome back fans, as tickets went on sale earlier this money, and beginning October 4th, to enter a Thunder home game, you must show proof of a partial or full COVID vaccination or a negative COVID test taken within 72-hours of the game. The NBA is also expected to impose additional guidelines for fans sitting courtside.

The team announced today this entry policy will remain in effect through at least the first 12 games of the season and remain consistent for the lone Thunder contest in Tulsa at the BOK Center.

Fans will have several options to show proof of vaccinations or test results as they enter the Paycom Center, including uploading Vaccination cards and test results to the Thunder Mobile App or digital photos of CDC vaccination cards or test results.

OKC Thunder fans can not wait to get back into the Paycom Center and root on this new look, young team.

A ton of players on this roster have never played in front of the hometown faithful in Bricktown as a member of the Thunder. Aleksej Pokusevski, Theo Maledon, Josh Giddey, Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Aaron Wiggins, Paul Watson Jr, Isaiah Roby, Kenrich Williams, Ty Jerome, Gabriel Deck, Vit Krejci, Derrick Favors, Charlie Brown Jr, and even Mark Daigneault has not been able to feel that warm embrace from the Thunder fanbase when OKC Thunder public address announcer Mario Nanni announces him as the bench boss for the hometown team.

While the Oklahoma City Thunder game day operations staff did a great job a year ago balancing fake crowd noise and atmosphere, nothing beats one of the best fan bases in the entire NBA filling the stands.

The City will also get to welcome back players like Chris Paul, Steven Adams, Dennis Schroder, and Danilo Gallinari for the first time since their Thunder departure.

Which home games are you most looking forward to this year?