Ever since he packed his bag to leave the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 offseason, Kevin Durant hasn’t made an appearance of play yet in front of the Bay Area crowd.
With that, head coach Steve Kerr admitted that the wait has been tiring, with Durant not playing for the Phoenix Suns as it faces the Dubs this Monday.
“It is nuts,” Kerr told reporters, via Bleacher Report. “It is insane. It’s been a while. It’s been how many years? Four years? This is the fourth year? And we’ve always kind of anticipated his return and we’ve always had a planned ‘Welcome back’ video to thank him for everything he did for this franchise, and then literally every game, something comes up, or as you said, the pandemic.
“I remember the one game he did play with Brooklyn with no fans here. So it’s a shame because I think our fans would give him a lot of love, the applause and the energy he deserves for everything he did for us.”
Technically, Durant managed to play for the Brooklyn Nets against the Warriors in the Chase Center. But given the COVID crowd limitations in the 2020-21 season, the future Hall of Famer wasn’t able to get his well-deserved welcome from the Golden State fans.
Durant, who is now a member of the Suns after 3 ½ seasons as a Net, transformed the Warriors into an invincible team and an absolute dynasty, helping them to appear in three more NBA Finals and win two of them in back-to-back last 2017-2018.
