OKLAHOMA CITY (Ticker) -- Oklahoma City's new NBA franchise has
nicknamed itself the Thunder, according to a report Saturday on
the web site of the city's ABC affiliate.

Citing a source close to team ownership, KOCO-TV reported that
the "registrar for all of the NBA's Internet domain names were
reserved okcthunderbasketball.com and okcthunderbasketball.net
on July 10," suggesting that the franchise formerly known as the
Seattle SuperSonics will soon be renamed.

The franchise left the Pacific Northwest after an ugly court
case ended with an agreement between the team and the city of
Seattle, which released the club from its lease at KeyArena -
the crux of the disagreement.

In the court case, the city of Seattle had been seeking to hold
the owners of the Sonics to the remaining two years of the
team's KeyArena lease and Sonics' season-ticket holders also
filed a class-action lawsuit that contended they were tricked
into buying tickets under the belief that the team would be
staying in the Pacific Northwest.

Sonics majority owner Clay Bennett and his ownership group
alleged the team was losing money at KeyArena, thereby
necessitating a likely move to Oklahoma City.

However, the Sonics and the city of Seattle came to an agreement
on July 2, just hours before a district court judge was to issue
a verdict on the six-day trial.

As per the agreement, the Oklahoma City franchise agreed to
leave the Sonics' name, logo and colors behind for a potential
future NBA franchise in Seattle.