The Oklahoma City Thunder could be sold in the near future amid the NBA's rising valuations, a source tells Berry Tramel of the Tulsa World. The timeline is unclear as the ownership of the Thunder could wait until they open their new $1 billion arena in 2028.

The expectation is that new ownership will keep the Thunder in Oklahoma City as their new arena provides incentives to keep the franchise from relocating. The new arena agreement includes escalating exit penalties that would require Thunder ownership to compensate the city if the franchise relocates. Under the lease terms, departing within the arena's first five years would trigger a $1 billion penalty, while leaving during years six through 10 would result in an $850 million payment to Oklahoma City.

Clay Bennett and his group of investors purchased the Seattle SuperSonics for $350 million in 2006 and relocated the team to Oklahoma City in 2008. 

Analysts from CNBC, Forbes and Sportico estimated the Thunder’s value at more than $3.5 billion earlier this year, but that is now expected to be in the $4 billion range following the sale of the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion and the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion.

The Thunder is owned by The Professional Basketball Club LLC, which is made up of Bennett, Oklahoma City banker Jeffrey Records, Tulsa businessman George Kaiser and Oklahoma City businessmen Bill Cameron (who once owned the Tulsa Shock, the former WNBA franchise), Bob Howard, Everett Dobson and Jay Scaramucci. Bennett is chairman and serves as the Thunder representative on the NBA Board of Governors.

Bennett has said the Thunder ownership group has never taken money out of the team.

“They didn’t get into it for the investment, but …,” said a Thunder source.