The Indiana Pacers are getting a rude welcome to the state of Oklahoma this week.
Indiana’s team flight was unable to land directly in Oklahoma City on Tuesday due to tornado weather in the area, according to a report by KOCO-TV in OKC. As a result, the team flight was diverted to nearby Tulsa instead.
The report does add that the Pacers, who took off from Indianapolis, were eventually able to land at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, O.K. just before 7 PM CST (after taking off just before 2 PM CST). You can read the full report on the situation here.
Publicly available flight data also confirmed the lengthy detour for the Pacers’ team flight.
lol the storms in OKC diverted the Pacers plane to Tulsa pic.twitter.com/Znu91Xko4q
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) June 3, 2025
Much of the state of Oklahoma was under tornado watch on Tuesday. As a result, no flights were arriving or departing from Will Rogers Airport on Tuesday afternoon because of the stormy weather.
The Pacers, who just concluded their Eastern Conference Finals series against the New York Knicks on Saturday night, face the Thunder in Oklahoma City for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday. Game 2 of the series will also be played in Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Tornado weather is obviously nothing new to the residents of Oklahoma. Over the years, Thunder star players have even provided assistance to those affected by some of the more severe storms in the state.
