What's in a Name?

Coming up with and keeping track of names can be a tricky thing, folks. Especially if you're talking about NBA franchises that are constantly moving around. One might easily confuse one team for another.

You see, there used to be a team called the Seattle Supersonics. That team is now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder. But hold on, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The road to that name is just one piece of the puzzle.

Originally, there was also another team named the Charlotte Hornets. When the Charlotte Bobcats entered the league back in 2002 as an expansion team, the Hornets moved to New Orleans and became the New Orleans Hornets.

Oh, yeah, that reminds me. There's a team in the NBA known as the Utah Jazz. That's right. UTAH JAZZ. Two words that should never be within 5 miles of each other. Why would a team curse itself with such an unfitting name for its city? Well, the fact is, the Utah Jazz were once located in New Orleans. They were called the New Orleans Jazz, a much more appropriate name for that city that Utah.

But back to the Bobcats and Hornets for a second. After the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans, there was a small natural and political disaster known as Hurricane Katrina. During that time, New Orleans was ravaged by the aftermath of the storm and playing NBA basketball in New Orleans was simply impossible. So, for the next year or so, the New Orleans Hornets played their home games in Oklahoma City and were even known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Thunder.

And here we rejoin the aforementioned Seattle Supersonics, who were still in the NBA at this time. For whatever reason, ownership wanted to move the team the hell out of Washington state. Many Sonics fans were now bereft of a team. Oklahoma City, which had proven to be capable of hosting an NBA team, got a more permanent one when the Seattle Supersonics moved to the city where the New Orleans Hornets had played their home games the year before. They also got a name change, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. Nick Collison and Kevin Durant are currently the only members of the team who have played for the team since it was located in Seattle.

But hold on, we're not quite done, I'm afraid. For whatever reason, the New Orleans Hornets didn't seem to like their team name very much anymore and became the New Orleans... Pelicans. That's right, Pelicans. Well, they are seabirds, after all, and New Orleans is adjacent to the third coast, so I guess it works. Still kind of an odd name, in my opinion. But wait! That means the Hornets name that had been around since the formation of the Charlotte Hornets was gone! Would they become like the Supersonics, a name that no longer has any meaning except to aging fans of a state now without a team?

Alas, no. You see, the Charlotte Bobcats, the mediocre expansion team which finally had some moderate success in later years, saw this opportunity and pounced on it. They took the name of Charlotte Hornets for themselves, despite being completely unconnected to the original Charlotte Hornets. So the Bobcats and not the Hornets would be the team without a name... Of course, they waited a whole year to take the name. I mean did they not see it just sitting there? Neither the Charlotte nor New Orleans Hornets existed during the 2013-2014 season.

I feel I would be remiss if I did not mention that the team is partially owned by Michael Jordan, who of course played for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA but also played for North Carolina (located in Charlotte) in his college years.

And there you have it. So here is a timeline of the team names and their confusing path to the present.

Seattle Supersonics 1967-2008
Oklahoma City Thunder 2008-present
New Orleans Jazz 1974-1979
Utah Jazz 1979-present
Charlotte Hornets 1988-2002
New Orleans Hornets 2002-2005, 2007-2013
New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 2005-2007
New Orleans Pelicans 2013-present
Charlotte Bobcats 2002-2014
Charlotte Hornets 2014-present

It should also be mentioned that the Sacramento Kings ownership recently tried to move the team to Seattle, but the league did not allow it. That would have brought a whole other franchise into this trainwreck.