In just one season, the city that used to be New Orleans captured the heart of New Orleans Hornets guard J.R. Smith: The people dripping with personality, the storied history, the evocative images of Louis Armstrong, the French Quarters and spicy Cajun dishes. Not to mention the love.

"When I was there during the season," Smith said, "they showed me love. All I can do is show love back. I really appreciate what they've done for me. They really took me in. I just want to show love back."

And so, after Hurricane Katrina displaced the Hornets to Oklahoma City, Smith says he is dedicated to playing for his beloved people of 'Nawlins. "We're a New Orleans team," he says, "We're representing Louisiana."

But just how long the Hornets are a New Orleans team representing Louisiana is a very big question. In fact, the Hornets may have already played their final game in "The Big Easy." And moving would not be that novel an idea. In 2002, Hornets owner George Shinn raised eyebrows across the league when he moved the team from Charlotte, N.C., to New Orleans. Until then, the last NBA team to play in New Orleans was the Jazz, which took their ensemble to Utah in 1978. With little corporate support and a large segment of the population too poor to afford NBA tickets, survival in New Orleans seemed very questionable for the Hornets from the start.

While the NFL Saints draw huge crowds at the Superdome, that was for only for eight regular-season games per season and, the fan loyalty the Saints have developed over generations cannot be discounted. The Hornets had some success early on, but last season were one of the worst teams in the league; they traded star Baron Davis to Golden State for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis and practiced in an outdated facility. The result? A league-worst average attendance of just over 14,000 over 41 home games: One Hornets player even told me last summer that he expected the team to eventually move to Kansas City. And if the on-court struggles weren't bad enough, along came Hurricane Katrina.

With their fan base now dispersed all over the United States and the New Orleans Arena battered and in need of repair, the Hornets aren't expected to play at home during the 2005-06 season.

The Arena was turned into a makeshift medical facility after Katrina. Workers began using pumps and hot air to dry it out and decontaminate it the last week of September. Among the numerous things damaged was the Hornets' basketball floor. People are now slowly coming back to New Orleans; this devastated town will have more to worry about than alley-oops to Smith, or Chris Andersen's shot blocks or the highly-anticipated debut of rookie sensation Chris Paul.

"It's not just the arena (being) in playing condition, but will there be any fans there?'' asked Shinn, at a press conference in last month, "I don't know how many will come back, how quickly they'll come back. I'm convinced New Orleans will rebuild. With the dollars that the federal government is putting in, I can see it rebuilding and even being stronger. But how long is it going to take?"

Others cities see an opportunity: Oklahoma City, Louisville, Ky., San Diego, Kansas City, Kan., Anaheim, Calif., Tampa, Fla. and Nashville, Tenn., put bids in to be the temporary home of the Hornets. Oklahoma City won with a lucrative package and an NBA-ready 19,675-seat arena, the three-year-old Ford Center that has many open dates. Close proximity to division rivals in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston was an added incentive. If the Hornets cannot earn $40 million in revenue, then the state and city governments and a group of local investors will make up the shortfall, up to $10 million. Oklahoma City also gave the Hornets a relocation allowance that includes temporary housing for up to 100 employees and 25,000 square feet of furnished office space within walking distance of the Ford Center.

The Hornets will play 35 regular-season games and two preseason games at the Ford Center and six games in Baton Rouge, La., (which could be moved to New Orleans that option become viable). The team will play its post-season games in Oklahoma City if a miracle happens. Last Spring, Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett went to New York City to meet with NBA commissioner David Stern about bringing the NBA to his town, which has been viewed as a minor-league city. With no thoughts of expansion other than possibly in Las Vegas, the NBA sent Cornett home with little hope. And then came Katrina.

The arrival of the Hornets brings Oklahoma City its first major professional franchise unless you count the short-lived USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws. Sports-crazed Oklahomans have responded by purchasing over 7,500 season-ticket packages, making Shinn confident that every regular-season game will be sold-out. The Hornets also have an option to return to Oklahoma City for the 2006-07 season. But Cornett, while he surely would love to have the Hornets stay long-term, maintains that he expects them to return to New Orleans.

"I've said all along, no way we would be in any competition with Louisiana,'' Cornett told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "If the games can be played there (New Orleans), that's where they should be played…I was very interested in trying to be a temporary relocation center for the team. This team is absolutely going back to New Orleans.''

Please keep in mind that Cornett is a politician. But don't be fooled New Orleans fans. The reality is that the Hornets are in the business to make money, not to make you smile or temporarily forget about your recent tragedy. If the Hornets could leave Charlotte, don't be naive enough to think that they have any allegiance to a beaten, poor, rebuilding city that they moved to only three years ago.

Huge crowds in Oklahoma City will make it tough for the Hornets not to find Oklahoma attractive. And cities like Louisville, Ky., San Diego, Kansas City, Kan., Las Vegas, Tampa, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., Anaheim and Austin, Tex., could also get into a bidding war to woo the Hornets their way. In the end, an extremely lucrative offer from an NBA starved city may be too much for New Orleans to compete with. So even if the New Orleans Arena and the city get well enough to get the Hornets back for a handful of games this season, Louisianans may want to take pictures, purchase team goods with the New Orleans logo, say their tearful goodbyes and wonder "what if."