If things don’t work out for Thunder in Oklahoma City, they could always take their talents back to Kansas City.
That was the unmistakable takeaway from Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas on Sunday.
Mr. Lucas made his appeal to the franchise on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of a controversy involving Oklahoma lawmaker Rep. Sean Roberts (R-Hominy).
Since the NBA resumed its 2019-20 season on Thursday, the gross majority of the league’s players and personnel have been kneeling during the pregame national anthem, effectively following the example of Colin Kaepernick.
The protests echo the sentiments shared by a majority of NBA players, many of whom who have been outspoken in their advocacy for the Black Lives Matter movement and against police brutality.
Prior to the Thunder’s first seeding game in Orlando, the aforementioned Mr. Roberts issued a statement in which he took the franchise’s players to task for the “anti-patriotic” act of kneeling during the anthem and went as far as to suggest that the tax breaks that the organization has benefitted from be ceased, despite them being in effect until 2024.
Naturally, the statement has gotten widespread attention, and Mayor Lucas had a response.
“@okcthunder — You’re always welcome in Kansas City,” the mayor tweeted on Sunday.
What makes Mayor Lucas’ appeal especially noteworthy is the fact that Kansas City is believed to be a viable market.
Prior to moving to Sacramento, the Kings called Kansas City home from 1972 to 1985. The franchise began in Rochester, New York and moved to Cincinatti, Ohio before landing in Kansas City. Struggling to find profitability, they would eventually move to Sacramento, where it has found stability and success.
Still, Kansas City has been mentioned as a locale in which the NBA may be interested in once again.
In 2018, a tweet by Jarrett Sutton got widespread attention. Sutton, a Kansas City native who played collegiate basketball for the University of Missouri, is a media professional who worked for the SEC Network in 2018. Back then, he reported that an NBA executive told him that along with Seattle, Kansas City was one of the “most valuable markets” for league expansion and that it would “get a team at some point.”
Although it’s extremely unlikely that the Thunder would actually leave Oklahoma City, Mr. Roberts’ comments are sure to rub both the franchise and Commissioner Adam Silver the wrong way.
Apparently, predicting the same, it certainly looks like Mayor Lucas isn’t waiting to make his move. Can’t blame him for shooting his shot.
