Will the real Kevin Durant please stand up?
The perceptions about OKC fans are wrong. We aren’t mad that Kevin Durant left; we are mad how he carried himself before/during/after the process.
Picture this: you dated someone for eight years. Everything was great when you were together. Your boy/girlfriend was the sweetest person in the world, giving to charities and promising an engagement ring.
But then… things start getting weird. Suddenly, they’re not so sweet to you. And worse, you notice they’re flirting with people they KNOW you hate. You even catch them chilling at one of your mortal enemy’s houses.
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Then it happens. They break up with you. And through social media, at that. Not even a phone call, or in-person announcement. No attempt at working things out.
So, you pick up the pieces. Your buds rally around you, and you’ve pretty much moved on. Until you get an invitation to a mutual friend’s party. You know you have to go, but you also know your ex is going to be there… with their new sidepiece. You know, the person they basically cheated on you with.
You grab your new boy/girlfriend and head to the party. You hope to avoid your ex and just enjoy the evening. But before you know it, your ex is in your face talking trash about you and your new significant other. And worse, all of your ex’s friends are laughing! They’re pointing at you, calling you names, rubbing the painful break-up in your face like it was your fault.
Ouch, right? For those who aren’t afraid of a little melodramatic comparison, that’s what it felt like watching the Golden State Warriors take on the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night.
What did we watch?
There’s no denying that the game, the first meeting since Kevin Durant’s departure, was a nightmare for OKC fans. Not only did the Thunder offer a soaring amount of hope in the first quarter that was quickly extinguished, but the boys were, by all accounts, stomped upon. And worse, we were reminded how good of a player Kevin Durant is.
Full disclosure: I never liked Durant. Everybody knew this, and that’s okay. But, I respected him and admit he is amazing.
That being said, certainly I wasn’t the only one who felt like they were watching a stranger Thursday night?
Yes, his jersey is different. His number has changed. He’s got new friends now. But, it was like a different man out there.
Let’s face it. I don’t know that the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors have ever liked each other. I can personally say I dislike them more than any other team in the league, and it has nothing to do with Durant. It has to do with Draymond Green kicking my imaginary husband, Steven Adams.
But, the game still felt really weird.
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Durant and his new posse played like they were on some kind of revenge tour. As if they had a vendetta. As if Oklahoma City did something to him that deserved punishment. As if Oklahoma City traded him, didn’t re-sign him, or did him any kind of wrong. Instead of, you know, carrying him on fans’ collective shoulders and making him the golden son of the Sooner state.
The team that built him
When Durant joined the league nearly a decade ago, he was a boy from humble beginnings. His baby-faced smile and lanky build instantly earned him the role of America’s sweetheart. Oklahoma City embraced him. We put him on a pedestal, patronized his restaurant, wore his jerseys, chanted “MVP” from the heights of Loud City every time he entered the court.
Now, he seems to have changed. He went from saying:
“I’m one of those guys that would love to stick it out with one team my whole career.”
“I love it here and I would love to get my jersey retired here.”
“I love my teammates, I love the city, I don’t really think about anywhere else.”
To:
“I moved on…I’m trying to move forward.”
He was the one who said:
“I’m not a guy that’s going to brag or feel like I’m better than the group.”
Who now says:
“I’m not an $88 player. I’m an elite player in the league.”
Beginning of the end
Like you would following a bad break-up, it’s tempting to look back on the end of a relationship for signs of unraveling. After his performance against other play-off teams, it’s hard to understand why Durant flaked out in the WC Finals. But, it’s easy to speculate that maybe he was already dancing with the devil.
During the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors, Durant was 10-30 shooting in Game 1. He was 8-24 in Game 4. He was 12-31 in Game 5. He was 10-31 in Game 6.
MVP caliber playing? Absolutely not.
In the Thursday night game as a Warrior, he made 7 three-pointers and racked up 39 points.
MVP caliber playing? Sure.
Sketchy as heck? Oh yes.
Fire and ice
I don’t remember Durant being so cold when he played with the Thunder. He claims he was always a trash talker, but I just don’t think that’s true. At least, not to the level he displayed Thursday night. He carried himself as though he held a grudge. His body language was fueled by anger.
And, it was different than Westbrook, whose fire and anger are often praised. Westbrook gets mad at the world, and lets loose in remarkable ways. Durant seemed mad not at the world, but at a handful of guys in particular—our guys.
Things get heated
In a beautiful moment before the game went south for the Thunder, newcomer Jerami Grant performed a sweet dunk right in KD’s face. It was gorgeous, and you could tell Kevin “Suddenly Mr. Bitter” Durant didn’t like it.
Soon after, he returned the favor. He dunked on Grant, and immediately yelled a series of expletives in his direction, banging on his own chest. I turned to my friends, jaw on the floor, and exclaimed: “That doesn’t seem like something Kevin would do? Who IS he?”
He continued to make me wonder. Sure, Durant has admitted to having a bit of a pottymouth on the court before, but he was a sailor in that game. One particularly heated moment, especially.
Enes Kanter, towel around his neck as he sat on the bench, exchanged words with Durant. You can tell it’s an awkward moment for KD’s former teammates, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson. Andre claps his hands together and looks away. Adams reaches over and pats Kanter, trying to diffuse the Turk’s anger.
My stomach was in knots watching the exchange. It was as if the disappointment, the emotion, the anger, the sadness, that Steven Adams must have been feeling radiated through my television and straight into my heart. It made me absolutely sick.
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I want to make it clear that this isn’t about Durant’s skill. He’s obviously a good player. If he wasn’t elite, we wouldn’t be talking about him, would we? No, this is about something more than that. It’s about who he is. Because the Kevin Durant we Thunder fans knew wouldn’t have said this in response to a question about the exchange with Kanter:
“How many minutes did he play? Three.”
It’s a new era
His new coach (who, I must say, can throw a tantrum better than literally every toddler I’ve ever met), said this about Durant:
“I feel bad for Kevin.”
You know what, Steve, so do I. I really do feel sorry for him. I hate that I don’t know whether he was faking a Mr. Nice Guy act for the Oklahoma City fans or is currently tricking himself into an I’ve-Got-A-Huge-Burden-to-Bear Egomaniac. Either way, I feel sorry for him that he had to fake whichever persona it is.
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Time to move on
Let’s revisit that break-up scene one last time. You’re at the party, and your ex and all their new friends are standing around laughing and fist-bumping. You turn and look at the person you’re with now. You see your friends. And, you know what happens?
Closure.
Because, suddenly, you realize how much you value the one you’re with now. You respect them, and they respect you. And, you don’t need anybody else.
(Except Paul George. That’d be okay.)