National Basketball Association

Shirt yanked over death threats?

Published May. 21, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

An Oklahoma City-based company Monday pulled a T-shirt that mockingly thanked Seattle for giving them the NBA's Thunder franchise after it claimed it received death threats from angry fans.

The Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008, after the team's ownership group reached a settlement with the City of Seattle to get out of a lease at KeyArena.

The Thunder have become one of the feel-good stories of the NBA since relocating, with young All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook turning them into genuine title contenders.

Some fans, though, still have an issue with how the team left Seattle, and the shirt deriding the franchise's roots became a hot topic Monday.

The front of the shirt, created by War Paint Clothing Company, shows what appears to be the former SuperSonics logo transformed from green and yellow to blue with "OKC THUNDER" written underneath.

On the back of the shirt, a message reads, "Thank you Seattle — OKC."

Seattle's KING 5 News alerted its audience to the shirts Monday, causing a huge backlash that led War Paint to pull the item from its website.

"After receiving death threats we have decided to take the shirt down offline. Sorry if we offended you Seattle," the company tweeted.