Both Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder got a long, lopsided relationship, and it can only continue on Sunday when the superstar took a visit with the Phoenix Suns on the club’s home turf.
Durant, the newcomer Sun who arrived in Arizona this 2022-23 midseason, has been booed yet again by the Oklahoma City fans. This can only mean that the memories of the painful betrayal by Durant remain fresh at the side of the Thunder fandom.
But this time around, Durant got a newer, much more mature perspective regarding the negative reactions of his former fanbase.
“I understand it,” Durant said in his postgame availability about jeers by the OKC fans. “I meant so much to this community and just for me to leave like that. Early on, I didn’t get it, but I get that [afterward] … There’s still emotions and still some people who don’t like that I left this franchise, but it was more love this time than it has been in the past.
“So I just focus on that. I had so many great memories here. So many people I met that has changed my life, changed my view on life, so definitely grateful to be a part of this organization.”
Durant was the beloved cornerstone of the Thunder franchise for nine years and was their league MVP for the 2013-14 season. He has been the basketball hero of the entire city until a shocking decision happened at the side of the future Hall of Famer back in the 2016 offseason.
Nearly two months after he and the Thunder devastatingly blew a 3-1 series lead against the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, Durant took bold action in what he called “The Hardest Road” to win that elusive championship and inked a $54.3MM, two-year deal as a free agent with the Dubs. This signing went on to become one of the most controversial moves by a superstar in all of the sports, as this ultimately fortified Golden State who already established a regular season record of 73 wins in the 2015-16 season.
It was not only the Thunder fans who developed an embattled, resentment treatment against Durant but also the rest of the NBA fandom excluding the Dub Nation. The star forward’s signing with the Warriors which already features Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green destroyed the balance of power in the NBA, as they went on to conquer the entire league and clinched back-to-back NBA titles in 2017-2018.
In the 2019 offseason, Durant officially closed his embattled chapter with Golden State and proceeded to join the Brooklyn Nets, and the rest was history.
What Durant believes about the never-ending bitter perception of the OKC faithful against him can’t be more factual. He emerged as the ultimate basketball antagonist upon joining forces with an already dynastic team and proceeded to amass victories unfairly.
Against the Thunder, Durant got the last laugh as he managed to elevate his game from a rusty home debut last week, chipping a robust 35 points, five rebounds and five assists on 62 percent shooting for the 128-118 Suns win.
With the weekend win, Durant and Phoenix now only need two more wins to secure a top-four spot in the Western Conference heading to the playoff stage.
