New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn said Wednesday that the team is still headed back to New Orleans.

Shinn said the $350 million purchase of the Seattle Sonics will have no effect on the Hornets, who are about to spend their second season in Oklahoma City, where the team temporarily relocated after Hurricane Katrina.

"Technically, the Hornets are New Orleans' team to lose," Shinn said. "Right now, everything is going in a positive direction and all indicators are that we'll be going back. What happens, I don't know. I can't read tea leaves and predict the future. But I'm just at total peace that whatever happens, it's going to be God's will. That's all I can do."