Pop the corks and celebrate!

NBA to OKC analysis Berry Tramel and Darnell Mayberry break down the news of a Sonics settlement.
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About darn time.

Our fair state has been poised to party ever since Clay Bennett and his partners bought the Sonics, but instead, we've endured one false start after another. These past couple years have been just as frustrating as they have been exciting.

The frustration is over.

The fun is just beginning.

The NBA is coming this fall.

The Sonics reached an agreement with the City of Seattle on Wednesday afternoon, only hours before a ruling was due in the federal lawsuit between the two. The team can leave Seattle for Oklahoma City immediately in exchange for up to $75 million.

Seattle keeps the team's name, colors and history.

Oklahoma City gets the rest.

"The NBA will be in Oklahoma City next season,” Bennett said during a Wednesday night press conference. "The relocation of the operation of this team begins tomorrow morning.”

Break out the party hats and the noisemakers, my friends. Heck, this is so big, a glass of the bubbly would be good, too.

The NBA is on its way.

Time to celebrate.

Just be sure to dust off the party gear first.

Remember back when Bennett stood next to Howard Schultz and announced an Oklahoma-based group had bought the Sonics? Remember when politicians and voters in Washington refused to build a new arena? Remember when Bennett said the team wanted to move and a new lawsuit seemed to spring up every other day?

Those benchmarks occurred within the past 24 months, and yet, they seem distant memories now.

Even though the idea of having an NBA team in town has been fun to envision and cool to ponder, we've all been cautious over the past two years. No need to get too excited. No reason to get too worried.

We've been in wait-and-see mode.

Even if a settlement hadn't been reached, Wednesday would've been a good day; we'd have gone to bed knowing more about the future of the NBA in OKC. We'd have known if the team formerly known as the Sonics were going to be bound to the last two years on their arena lease, or we'd have known if they might be in Oklahoma by the time football season starts.

Knowing something even slightly more definitive would've been grand.

Instead, we went from a blurry, fuzzy picture to crystal-clear focus in a few hours Wednesday.

It feels good.

No more wondering. No more guessing.

At times these past few months, it felt like we were stuck in purgatory. Either that, or the longest coaching search ever. We knew there eventually would be resolution, but there were times when a decision seemed far away.

Bennett and Co. bought the team two years ago this summer. From the beginning, the owners made it clear they wanted a new arena and that the good folks in the Pacific Northwest had a year to figure out how to get it done.

Fail to do so, and the owners would consider moving the team.

Considering the lack of cooperation from government officials and the apathy from many voters in that neck of the woods, a move seemed possible and Oklahoma City seemed likely.

We waited.

Over the next year, it became obvious that a new arena in Seattle was about as likely as the eviction of Starbucks or Microsoft.

Wasn't gonna happen.

Still, we waited.

In early October, the City of Seattle sued the Sonics to force the team to stay the remaining years on the lease. The team had yet to say it was leaving.

But less than a month later, Bennett informed the NBA that the Sonics intended to relocate to Oklahoma City. They wanted out soon. That required buying out of the final two seasons of their arena lease, and that required negotiating with the city.

The two sides weren't exactly meeting for lattes.

So, we waited.

Even when Oklahoma City residents overwhelmingly passed a $121.6 million penny sales tax for Ford Center renovations, the celebration was muted that March evening.

Ditto for the April afternoon when the NBA's Board of Governors approved the Seattle franchise's relocation.

We waited.

No more.

Remember the gal who yodeled during free throws at Hornets' games? Remember the guy who wore the brick on his head? Remember watching Shaq and Kobe and CP3? Remember the energy inside the Ford Center?

We're about to have all of that and more.

"We made it,” Bennett said.

It's time to celebrate. Why not have a welcome party in Bricktown? Why not do a parade through the streets of downtown Oklahoma City?

The looming questions have been answered. The daunting uncertainties have been squashed.

The NBA is coming to OKC.

Where's that party hat?