The Oklahoma City Thunder are trying their best to maintain their homecourt advantage in the upcoming Western Conference Finals.
Screenshots circulated online on Monday revealing the notable step that the Thunder have taken ahead of their playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Fans attempting to buy tickets through the Thunder team website were greeted with a message stating that sales are being restricted according to billing address.
Only fans with a credit card billing address located in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, or Nebraska will be allowed to purchase tickets through the website.
OKC Thunder banning away fans from purchasing tickets to the Western Conference Finals pic.twitter.com/hg1V3txVQo
— NBA Dracos (@NBADracos) May 19, 2025
In other words, fans who live in Minnesota are barred from purchasing tickets through the Thunder site. Those fans will still be able to get into the game through the secondary market but will likely have to do so at an increased cost.
That is a smart move by the Thunder considering the geographic proximity in play. The Thunder and Timberwolves are not only in the same division but are also located less than 800 miles away from each other (and even share a time zone to boot).
As for the ticket tactic, we have already seen it spring up in playoff matchups featuring other teams. Most recently, the Detroit Pistons pulled an almost identical move to try to limit the presence of New York Knicks fans at their first-round playoff series games last month.
At their own home arena, Paycom Center, the Thunder enjoy one of the best and loudest home-crowd atmospheres in the entire NBA. During the playoffs especially, Oklahoma City fans really make their presence felt, and that will only be amplified now that the Thunder are back in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2016.
