OKC Thunder Community Service Outreach Efforts Continue in Moore

Oklahoma City helped rebuild multiple basketball courts in Moore, OK, which were unveiled on Monday, Sept. 9.

Rumble the Bison waves to children during the Saint Patrick's Day Parade at the Stockyards in Oklahoma City, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

On Monday, Sept. 9, the Oklahoma City Thunder and OG&E unveiled three revamped basketball courts in an OKC suburb.

The team helped rebuild courts at three schools in Moore, OK, the site of one of the most lethal tornadoes in the state's history.

In May of 2013, a violent EF5 storm worked its way through the town, leaving behind a huge pile of wreckage. Over 10 years after the event, however, The Thunder have successfully helped Plaza Towers Elementary, Highland East Junior High and Briarwood Elementary rebuild their basketball courts.

At the event, OKC Thunder Director of Corporate Communications Gayle Maxwell spoke with a local news station.

"We have 31 courts across the state of Oklahoma, and thanks to our friends at OG&E, we are now going back to all of those courts and re-energizing them and refreshing them," Maxwell told News 9. "This week, we are so excited to be returning to all three locations and more that were devastated by the May 20, 2013 tornado."

In February, Chet Holmgren and Rumble the Bison helped the organization open a pristine new basketball court in Spencer, OK, a community of less than 4,000 residents near east OKC.

While Holmgren wasn't in Moore for Monday's event after being in Norman on Saturday for an OU football game, the Thunder's mascot was still in the local suburb to help celebrate the occaision.

Oklahoma City's continued efforts in the community are a good example of the culture Sam Presti and Mark Daigneault have attempted to build within the Thunder organization. In addition to the team's Thunder Cares program, multiple players on the roster held their own youth camps over the summer.

OKC's first preseason game is less than a month away, as the team heads to San Antonio on Oct. 7 for the team's first contest of 2024-25.

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