When Hurricane Katrina displaced the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons starting in 2005, the franchise took up a temporary home in Oklahoma City. This unique era yielded a rare piece of NBA wardrobe history: the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets hybrid jersey. While the competitor article treats this brief dual-city stint as a confusing blur of unrelated rebrandings, the reality is a fascinating case study in crisis relocation, temporary branding adjustments, and the complex road to the modern New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder identities.
The Catalyst: Hurricane Katrina and the Temporary Move
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, heavily damaging the New Orleans Arena and displacing the community. The Hornets, then owned by George Shinn, needed an interim venue to play the 2005-06 and 2006-07 NBA seasons. Oklahoma City stepped up, offering the Ford Center as a passionate temporary home.
The franchise split its home games between New Orleans and Oklahoma City during the 2005-06 season, playing 35 games in Oklahoma City and just six in New Orleans. By the 2006-07 season, the team played 35 games in Oklahoma City and three in New Orleans. To honor both cities without undergoing a full, permanent rebrand prematurely, the franchise adopted a dual identity while retaining the core Hornets visual framework established in Charlotte and brought to Louisiana in 2002.
Anatomy of the Dual-City Uniforms
The team didn't create an entirely new visual identity from scratch during their time in Oklahoma City; instead, they modified their existing palette to fit a unique transitional phase.
- The White Association Edition: Featuring "HORNETS" arched across the chest in purple lettering trimmed with teal and gold, these home uniforms remained largely identical to the initial New Orleans design.
- The Purple Statement Edition: The iconic purple road jerseys became a familiar sight to fans at the Ford Center, featuring the classic teal pinstripes and white lettering.
- The Oklahoma City Patch: To appease and embrace their temporary hosts, players wore a specialized patch on their warm-ups and occasionally integrated localized signage, while fans in Oklahoma City bought custom merchandise featuring both city names.
According to historical records compiled by NBA.com, this era bridged the gap for a fanbase hungry for professional basketball, directly paving the way for the city's permanent acquisition of the SuperSonics franchise relocation in 2008.
The Design Evolution: From Pinstripes to Modern Minimalism
To understand why the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets jersey matters, it helps to look at where the aesthetic came from and where it went.
When the original Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002, they kept the iconic teal, purple, and white color scheme, complete with the vintage pinstripes designed by Hornets co-founder George Shinn's front office in the late 1980s. The wordmark featured a sharp, aggressive stinger font on the letters.
When the team played out of Oklahoma City, they wore these exact pinstriped threads. It created a surreal visual: an OKC crowd cheering wildly for a team wearing a purple-and-teal color scheme that explicitly honored New Orleans' Mardi Gras heritage.
Return to Louisiana and the Drop of the Hornets Name
By the 2007-08 season, the infrastructure in New Orleans had recovered enough for the franchise to return permanently to the New Orleans Arena. The team dropped Oklahoma City from its branding entirely, returning exclusively as the New Orleans Hornets for the next five seasons.
However, the classic Charlotte-style identity had an expiration date. In 2013, new owner Tom Benson decided to shed the "Hornets" moniker entirely to better reflect the local culture of the Gulf Coast. The franchise rebranded as the New Orleans Pelicans, relinquishing the historic "Hornets" name back to Charlotte (which promptly reclaimed it from the Bobcats).
This meant the actual New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets jersey design was permanently retired. The color scheme shifted from purple, teal, and gold to navy blue, red, and gold, washing away the last visual vestiges of the original 1988 Charlotte expansion era.
Common Misconceptions About the Dual-City Era
Many casual basketball fans confuse the timeline of the team's movements. Here is how to keep the facts straight:
- Misconception: The team was named the "New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets" for their entire time in Oklahoma City.
- Reality: Officially, they remained the New Orleans Hornets on paper and in the league registry, though media and local merchandise often used the dual designation to acknowledge the hosting city.
- Misconception: The Oklahoma City Thunder wore the Hornets jersey.
- Reality: The Thunder franchise was born fresh in 2008 when the Seattle SuperSonics relocated. The Hornets were a completely separate corporate entity that merely rented Oklahoma City's arena for two years before returning to Louisiana.
- Misconception: The jersey changed drastically while in Oklahoma City.
- Reality: The jerseys worn on the floor in Oklahoma City were the exact same New Orleans Hornets pinstripe uniforms worn before and after the storm, aside from local patches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets wear a special jersey patch?
Yes. During their time playing home games in Oklahoma City, the team wore commemorative patches on their warm-up gear and warm-up shooting shirts to thank the fans and acknowledge the dual-city arrangement, though the game jerseys themselves kept the core New Orleans branding.
Why didn't Oklahoma City keep the Hornets name when the team left?
When the franchise moved back to New Orleans permanently, owner George Shinn retained the naming rights. When Oklahoma City secured a permanent team later via the Seattle relocation, ownership chose a fresh, locally inspired identity—the Thunder—rather than keeping a name tied to Louisiana geography.
Where can fans buy retro New Orleans Hornets jerseys today?
Mitchell & Ness and the official NBA Store periodically release throwback swingman editions featuring the classic 2002-2007 purple and teal pinstripe designs, though authentic dual-city specific retail variants from the 2005-2007 window remain rare collector items.
How did the relocation impact jersey sales?
Jersey sales spiked significantly in Oklahoma City during the two-year stint, as local fans eagerly purchased NBA merchandise to prove the city could successfully support a major professional sports franchise.
