Clay Bennett unveils the name of Oklahoma City's NBA franchise on Wednesday. Clay Bennett unveils the name of Oklahoma City's NBA franchise on Wednesday. (Associated Press)

The NBA's franchise based in Oklahoma City revealed its new name —Thunder — at a news conference Wednesday.

Team members Damien Wilkins and Desmond Mason helped some local children pull down a curtain to reveal a large team banner as the AC/DC song Thunderstruck was played.

The Thunder, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics, also revealed the team's colour scheme, which incorporates blue, red and orange.

According to team chairman Clay Bennett, the blue coincides with the main colour of Oklahoma's state flag while red and orange were selected to reflect the colours of the sunset.

Wednesday's official announcement confirmed what had been one of the NBA's worst-kept secrets in recent weeks.

A report from Oklahoma City television station KOCO in late July said that Thunder would be the team's name, but team officials refused to comment.

Another clue came earlier in the week, after several NBA teams offered tickets for games against the Thunder on their official websites.

Franchise parts ways with Sonics

With a new identity, the franchise will attempt to forge ahead after an acrimonious split with Seattle after 41 years.

Bennett's ownership group purchased the franchise from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in July 2006. After the native Oklahoman could not secure public funding to assist with the construction of a new arena in Seattle, he requested and eventually received permission from the NBA's board of governor's to relocate the franchise.

The City of Seattle filed a lawsuit against the ownership group in an effort to force the team to uphold its lease agreement with KeyArena, but a settlement worth up to $75 million US was reached by the two sides on July 2, paving the way for the franchise's move to Oklahoma City.

Bennett agreed to pay $45 million to Seattle immediately to break the team's lease at KeyArena and another $30 million later if the state approves funding for a new arena but Seattle doesn't get a new NBA franchise.

He also retained the rights to the SuperSonics' name and logos but agreed not to use them after moving to Oklahoma City. If a new NBA team arrives in Seattle, Bennett would turn over the rights to the new team's owner at no cost, as long as it meets with NBA approval.

With files from the Associated Press