A familiar face was back at Paycom Center on Wednesday. As the Oklahoma City Thunder collected a 124-116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers , a franchise legend watched on in attendance. Serge Ibaka was in town to visit his first NBA franchise.
During a timeout, Ibaka was shown on the jumbotron. The OKC crowd erupted in applause. Of course, he was part of the first title contender on the Thunder — alongside Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and briefly James Harden.
Ibaka played seven seasons on the Thunder from 2009-16. In that time, he turned into one of the best defensive players of his era. He averaged 11.6 points on 52.3% shooting, 7.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in his time in OKC. He was part of several deep playoff runs with that group — peaking with the 2012 NBA Finals appearance.
Ibaka later spent time with the Orlando Magic , Toronto Raptors, LA Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. He wrapped up an epic NBA career as one of the best shot-blockers in recent memory and as part of a deep club of OKC's successful draft stories.
It will be interesting to see if Ibaka returns to OKC in a few months. Westbrook will have his No. 0 jersey retired on Sunday, Feb. 7, when the Thunder host the New York Knicks on NBC's 'Sunday Night Basketball' marquee matchup. As mentioned earlier, those two fought in many postseason battles together. So there's a mutual respect and affinity there.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Serge Ibaka visits OKC in recent Thunder win over Cavaliers
