Season will reveal Thunder fans' devotion

Carole Payne read my column the other day and started crying after the first sentence. Fortunately, it was not a literary response. I've had a few of those. Nope, this was purely emotional.

“Russell doesn't live here anymore.”

Payne, who lives in Quail Creek, called it “heartwrenching reality.” Someone asked her the other day if she remained a Thunder fan after the summer of woe. After Sam Presti traded Russell Westbrook and Paul George for some interesting ballplayers and more draft picks than you could cram into a 1950s phone booth.

Carole stunned herself with her response. Yes, she finally answered after a couple of minutes. But she has come to grips with her new Thunder relationship.

“I don't love them anymore and won't ever let myself love them again,” Carole said.

Welcome to the new Thunderworld. The foundational Westbrook is gone. Title contention is gone, too.

The Thunder home opener is Friday night against the Wizards, and OKC is entering a rebuilding phase that could be lengthy and almost certainly will include trading off more beloved players. The losses will mount like 11 years ago, the last time OKC fielded an irrelevant team.

And it will be quite tempting for Thunder fans to stay home, either eating their season tickets or not bothering to check out the secondary market.

The franchise already is girding for such a day, with an email to fans who have put their tickets on sale, urging them to not forsake the Thunder in these transitional days.

Chesapeake Arena has been loud and proud every single game of the Thunder's 11-years-plus history. But the volume might be tempered. The pride subdued.

Instead of 18,203 every single game, be it the Warriors on a warm weekend or the Magic on a cold Monday night, the `Peake could see big chunks of empty seats this season. Crowds of 14,000 could become the norm.

And that's all right. It's your money and your time. Do with it as you please. If you feel the investment isn't worth the product, don't invest. You deserve no shame for such a decision.

But there's one thing to consider. For more than a decade, Oklahoma City has prided itself on its fans. The Thunder crowd has been special. Both in loyalty — night after night, always full — and in environment. Loud and proud.

Arena announcer Mario Nanni always is quick to call the Thunder fans the NBA's best, and they've certainly done nothing to shirk that mantle.

Yet if the `Peake turns quiet in the post-Westbrook era, if the Thunder crowd becomes less like the Jayhawks' and more like the Atlanta Hawks', then Oklahoma City loses any standing as the NBA's best crowd. The NBA's best crowds stick with their team.

They have in New York, where the Knickerbockers have stunk for seemingly forever, and in Oakland, where the Warriors did little winning before the Steph Curry era, and in Chicago and Dallas, which have had intermittent success.

If Chesapeake turns into a less-rowdy coliseum, OKC would join cities like Miami and Cleveland and Philadelphia, where NBA devotion is conditional.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Nothing says a fan base has to be absolutely loyal, no matter the product on the court. But a more discerning fan base can't qualify as being among the NBA's best.

Who knows how the fans will react?

Some are grumblers who were down on the franchise even when even Westbrook and George roamed the hardwood.

Some are like Bob Hard of Oklahoma City, who wrote me this week to say he and his wife will not desert Loud City: “Yes, the Thunder den will have a different ROAR! But as we know all OKC to be resilient, it will roar again soon … . Play hard, boys, and expect results. We will cheer you on.”

And some are like Carole Payne, who doesn't know what to think. Her despondency isn't related to wins and losses. It's related to the connection she feels with certain players. Westbrook and Steven Adams chief among them.

“After a lot of thought, I went ahead and got my six-game package this year,” Carole said. “But my heart isn't really in it, anymore. If they trade Steven, I won't be buying any more packages.”

Carole watched the season opener against Utah on Wednesday night and found herself getting excited at the new-look Thunder. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Chris Paul. Danilo Gallinari. The Thunder lost 100-95, but there was a lot to like.

“But I had to reel myself in and keep reminding myself it was a fantasy,” Payne said. “I really enjoyed watching Chris Paul and Gallinari, and knew I could get attached to them, so I had to keep telling myself, `this isn't real, this isn't real.'”

Oh, it's real. It's just not permanent. Soon enough, we'll find out how permanent is the devotion of

Thunder fans.