Paycom Center

Paycom Center sits in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City and is the home of the Thunder, a sleek arena wrapped in glass and brick that anchors the Bricktown entertainment district. Its lower bowl runs steep and close to the floor, giving OKC one of the most compact, noise-trapping designs in the NBA. Since the Thunder's arrival in 2008, the arena has built a reputation for a full, blue-clad crowd every night, thundersticks and all. Game days spill out into the surrounding plazas and bars, turning downtown OKC into a genuine basketball town on nights the team plays.

The building opened in 2002 as the Ford Center, initially without an NBA tenant, and hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two displaced seasons after Hurricane Katrina before the Thunder relocated there permanently in 2008. It has since carried the names Oklahoma City Arena, Chesapeake Energy Arena, and now Paycom Center as naming rights changed hands. The arena has been the stage for the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook era and, more recently, a young Thunder core built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Its crowd has consistently ranked among the NBA's loudest and most loyal, a point of pride for a small market that fought hard to keep its team.