Seattle Mariners fans were not shedding any tears over the Oklahoma City Thunder’s exit from the 2026 NBA playoffs.
The Thunder fell to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday in an epic Game 7 to conclude the Western Conference Finals. The fourth quarter of OKC’s 111-103 loss just so happened to coincide with the start of the Mariners’ home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash.
The stadium staff felt like it would be a good idea to flash the closing moments of Game 7 on the jumbotron — and they were right. The crowd went nuts, celebrating the demise of the team that replaced the city’s beloved Seattle SuperSonics nearly two decades ago.
The Mariners have hit four home runs, and they just showed the Thunder losing on the big screen.
— Josh Kirshenbaum (@J_Kirshenbaum) May 31, 2026
T-Mobile Park is having a pretty good time right now pic.twitter.com/1FL3lTncT1
Seattle sports fans hate watching the Thunder hits every single time pic.twitter.com/KLO3QMEp1n
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 31, 2026
It didn’t hurt that the Mariners had also just hit four home runs off Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson over the first three innings. Seattle won without needing to sweat in a 5-1 contest.
Seattle sports fans have long held a grudge against the Thunder after team owner Clay Bennett led the charge to relocate the Sonics franchise to Oklahoma City in 2008. With a huge basketball void still in Seattle, that grudge has not faded in the slightest.
The good news for Seattle is that the NBA appears poised to expand before the decade ends, with the Sonics widely expected to be among the teams in said expansion.
