Kevin Durant’s return is the last thing I want to watch
By Tony Heim
Damn you Kevin Durant.
Three years ago if you told me I would despise Kevin Durant I would have laughed. Actually I probably would’ve punched you; having an iota of negativity towards KD would be sacrilegious. But here we are on February 11th, 2017. And I want to punch Kevin Durant.
Every time I think about Durant I get pissed off. Both times the Thunder played in Golden State I turned the television off at the end feeling broken. There he was prancing around with his new basketball buddies, talking trash to his former basketball buddies, reveling in the fact that the game was coming easy for him and his teammates.
Basketball always came easy for Durant. Being 7-foot with the quickness and skills of a guard will do that for you. But life wasn’t easy for Durant. He struggled as a child. That struggle, and his ability to rise above it, was what drove me to the 18-year old Longhorn.
As a role model he was perfect. Durant was humble, kind-hearted and talented. I knew I couldn’t be like him as a basketball player, but I knew I could live my life like him. To this day I still wear my stupid backpack everywhere because of him.
“I’m me. I do me. And I chill.” Even his stupid Twitter bio became a life mantra.
Eventually I found another quote from the man himself: “With everything I do I just try to be myself.” Damn. For a kid who always felt a little different from everyone else…I needed that. I made it my senior quote.
Kevin Durant was more than a basketball player in so many ways. Then on July 4th, 2016 everything I ever believed came crashing down.
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Just like that I lost the last ounce of childhood innocence my 19-year old mind possessed. If Kevin Durant-the man who had a role in my email account, phone password, senior quote, basketball number, social media handles, clothes/shoes I wore-could break my soul like this anybody could.
Remember Game One of the 2012 NBA Finals? I remember smacking my coffee table so loud my dad thought he heard gunshots.
Remember when the youngins played the big bad Lakers to six games in 2010? I remember the look on KD, Harden and Russ’ face as they left the court, knowing they’d be back for more.
Remember Game Four of the 2016 Western Conference Finals? I remember believing this roster finally learned how to play together.
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Sure those thoughts will creep in my mind tomorrow, but sadly that happens nearly every day. The sadness is going to come from physically seeing the change in KD.
Let’s revisit those quotes.
“I’m me. I do me. And I chill.”
“With everything I do I just try to be myself.”
When Kevin Durant steps on the Chesapeake Energy court in a Golden State Warriors jersey think about those statements. KD is who he is, we can’t change that. But Golden State KD isn’t Oklahoma City KD.
That’s where the pain comes. It doesn’t come from the playoff runs we went hoarse for. It doesn’t come from the 50-point games we marveled over.
It comes from watching a kid become a man in OKC and return a cupcake.