The Oklahoma City Thunder are severely undermarketed and here’s why

The Oklahoma City Thunder have exceeded all expectations this 2024-25 season, but people are still surprised. They were able to become the youngest seed in NBA history and the youngest team to win a playoff series last season, but people still don’t know much about them.

While that may be because they were formed back in 2008, much of the reason they aren’t as popular as they should be is because of the lack of marketability that the NBA has given OKC.

The OKC Thunder are hidden in the shadows

Of course, no one can predict how an NBA season will end, as so many things can happen and drastically affect the results. However, experts and analysts may have strong hypotheses for which teams will place where based on team acquisitions and previous season success.

And while the OKC Thunder were one of the best teams in basketball last season, the league has failed to market them properly for this season.

Prior to the 2024-25 season, the Thunder were to have 25 nationwide matches. While that seems like a lot, NBA TV makes up ten of those games. With 15 games spread across ESPN, TNT and ABC, OKC was ranked 11th in the national television spotlight. The the vast majority of the teams ahead of them OKC has either beaten or proven they are better this season.

While many of these teams have NBA historical significance, contain the best players in basketball, and consist of multiple NBA champions and MVPs, many of these teams are underachievers and generally do not play good basketball.

Meanwhile, the NBA is seeing drastic drops in viewership, and people are questioning why. That could be a result of not marketing the very best teams in the game (as the Cleveland Cavs, first in the East and best record in the NBA, rank 17th in nationally televised games with eight).

Now the league is finally starting to realize the importance of Oklahoma City and how to market them, but it begs the question why it wasn’t done before the season started. Two big games for the Thunder, Boston and Cleveland, weren’t even on the national television schedule to start the season.

MORE: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander puts up stats not seen since these NBA legends.

Unfortunately, much of this is due to the Thunder being in Oklahoma City. Being such a small market compared to New York’s, Los Angeles’, Miami’s and others drastically hurts their chances of gaining recognition on any platform.

Even looking back at last season, not one Thunder player was placed in top ten most watched NBA players.

It is interesting to see that a team that had a player in second place in the MVP voting, a player in second place in the ROY voting as well as seen as an “anomaly” and a future two-way star and does not have any notable recognition on social/digital platforms.

It may ultimately come down to winning an NBA championship or having an MVP award winner to gain recognition when it comes to the Thunder. Despite having successful teams and players in the past, OKC is still cast aside in the eyes of others.

MORE THUNDER CONTENT:

The Oklahoma City Thunder record their longest winning streak in franchise history

The OKC Thunder place second in ESPN’s power rankings entering the new year

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named finalist for ESPN’s 2024 Golden Basketball Award