NBA Finals: Nick Collison has been through a lot with Thunder franchise

“I had kind of forgotten they do all that,” he said, a bit sheepishly. “I was just ready to get on to the next series.”

Who could blame him?

Collison has played for this franchise for eight years, and during that time, he's been through challenges that no other player in Thunder blue has. Watching things disintegrate in Seattle. Being uprooted from a place he called home. Sticking with a franchise that flirted with NBA futility.

But now, he will play in the NBA Finals for the first time in his career.

No wonder he was ready to get on with it as soon as the Thunder dispatched of the Spurs.

“To be able to be here through it all and from the beginning ... is very rewarding,” he said. “I really appreciate it because I do remember when things weren't so good.”

Things were at their worst when the franchise moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City. And truth be told, the way it ended in the Pacific Northwest was all the more difficult for Collison because of the way it started there for him.

After shoulder surgery forced him to sit out his first year in the league, he became a reserve on a Sonics team that won the Northwest Division and went to the playoffs. He was playing alongside the likes of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis.

Life was good.

Collison had found a place he wanted to call home. So often, NBA players return to their hometowns during the offseason, but he decided that Seattle was the place for him and his family.

Then a few months before the 2006-07 season started, the Sonics were sold to Clay Bennett and his group of Oklahoma City-based investors.

“I pretty much knew we were going to leave despite what was said to us by everyone,” Collison said. “I think everyone in the city knew that, too.

“So that was a rough, tough two years.”

Making matters worse, the Sonics were losing. A lot. They managed only 31 wins in 2006-07, then fell to 20 wins in 2007-08.

But when Sam Presti took over before that 20-win season, the new general manager made a point of meeting as often as possible with Collison. Presti liked the way that Collison played — his preparation, his mentality and his toughness — and he wanted Collison to understand his vision for the franchise.

“He knew where he wanted to get to,” Collison said, “but he knew how hard it was going to be. He just kept saying, ‘We're gonna get there, we're gonna get there.'”