Kevin Durant: Oklahoma City Thunder forward, 2008-2016
Kevin Durant is an exceptional NBA basketball player who now plays for the Golden State Warriors AAU super team in Oakland, California. Previous to joining the Warriors, Durant played eight seasons for the Oklahoma City Thunder and one season for the same franchise in Seattle.
In high school, Durant played at three different high schools and was a star AAU circuit player. But his stock soared when he grew five inches one year in high school and began the process of becoming a generational offensive scoring machine.
In 2007, Durant won the Naismith Award as the outstanding college basketball player in the nation. He decided to forego his sophomore season at the University of Texas and was drafted as the second player in the draft only behind Ohio State’s Greg Oden who was selected by the Portland Trailblazers.
Durant played one season in Seattle winning NBA Rookie of the Year honors. The franchise moved the following season to Oklahoma City where the team was named the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Durant’s time in Oklahoma City was marked with outstanding achievements both from an individual and team standpoint. During these eight seasons the Thunder became not only one of the elite teams in the NBA, but in all of professional sports as well. The team made it to the finals of the rugged Western Conference four times during Durant’s tenure in Oklahoma City. In 2012, the Thunder made it to the NBA Finals before losing in five games to LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
Durant was a seven time NBA All-Star while playing in Oklahoma City. He won the league’s MVP award in 2014 and won the NBA All-Star Game MVP one time. He won four different league scoring championships and had a 40-50-90 season during the MVP season.
During Durant’s time in Oklahoma City he became engaged to NWBA star Monica Wright. However, the engagement was terminated by Wright amid her accusation of Durant cheating on her.
At the height of Durant mania in Oklahoma City he opened his own restaurant called KD’s Southern Cuisine in the Bricktown area with a local restaurant group.
Durant’s next to last season in Oklahoma City was marred by injury as he missed 55 games due to a Jones’ fracture in his foot which required three surgeries.
In 2016, Durant returned to the court and had a typical Kevin Durant season as the Thunder finished in third place in the Western Conference behind the record setting Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. In the playoffs though the Thunder came alive for three weeks and played the best basketball of the Durant Era in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in six games in the conference semi-finals to advance to their fourth conference final in the Durant Era in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City continued their torrid play in the conference finals against the Golden State Warriors leading the series 3-1 as the Thunder played overall outstanding team basketball with Kevin Durant and co All-Star Russell Westbrook leading the way.
The series came back to Oklahoma City for a Game 6. It will go down as Durant’s last game played in Oklahoma City as the Thunder blew a seven point lead with six minutes left in the game. Durant was 10-31`and had two turnovers in the game’s final minutes which would seal the Thunder’s defeat. The Thunder would go on to lose Game 7 in Oakland and it would turn out to be Durant’s last game played in a Thunder uniform.
On July 1, 2016, Durant became an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his professional career. On July 4, 2016, Kevin Durant announced via an internet posting he would be leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder to join the Oakland AAU Super Team.
Durant’s announcement created a national controversy similar to the one created by LeBron James when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat super team years earlier.
Ironically, if Durant had simply decided to stay in Oklahoma City he’d be playing alongside Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Al Horford, and Victor Oladipo.
Durant leaves behind him in Oklahoma City a city which once adored him as one of their own. He leaves behind him a legacy of being an inductee to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, a now closed restaurant, and perhaps one of the most magical runs of any small market team in the history of the NBA save the San Antonio Spurs with Tim Duncan.
Time will only tell if Durant is thought of fondly years from now or if he will be viewed as a traitor who abandoned his teammates and a city which loved him to instead play with the crotch magnet Draymond Green and the AAU Super Oakland Warriors.
Only time will tell. But time usually heals and is kind.