He arrived in Oklahoma City with the team in July 2008, after the Seattle Supersonics had been bought and relocated by Oklahoma City businessmen. And it became the foundation upon which the Oklahoma City Thunder would be built. He told people that he survived the 1960s, Vietnam and the Oklahoma City bombing, so he'll beat cancer, too. TODAY, LOCAL LEADERS talk endlessly about how far Oklahoma City has come, but the city itself began in the most unusual of ways. Three years later, a group of Oklahoma City businessmen bought the Seattle SuperSonics, and moved the team to Oklahoma City.