Steve Kerr’s recent appearance on The Book of Basketball podcast provides confirmation that the OKC Thunder never had a shot at keeping Kevin Durant – and shouldn’t be upset we couldn’t.
Since the departure of Kevin Durant from the OKC Thunder to the Golden State Warriors, logical or not, there was an overriding feeling of what did we do wrong. Especially with Durant constantly bringing up why he left.
KD never pointed at Russell Westbrook although many pundits tried in vain to take him in that direction. Nor did he ever call out any specific teammates. I respect that fact, although I still feel a certain way about him alluding to Russ and Nick Collison everything was okay and he’d be back in the infamous dinner a few days prior to his decision to leave.
Rather, Durant’s frequent comments regarding the franchise, management, coaching, and even the fanbase have taken hits as part of the reason for his departure. Being Canadian it’s easy to understand how a fanbase can develop feelings of inadequacy.
For decades one after another star bolted Toronto at the first opportunity. In the case of OKC, that situation only occurred once KD left but those feelings were somewhat diminished when Westbrook elected to stay and then Paul George re-signed.
Of course, those decisions are moot now given their trades this summer. Still, Thunder Nation recognizes this is a small market and one in which certain types of players will gravitate toward and others won’t depending on their individual desires (read: branding and sponsorship). Although Westbrook did prove it doesn’t matter where you play – you can still be a top earning athlete on and off the hardwood.
Fortunately, the securing of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a step in the right direction given he’s the type of individual who has demonstrated he’s a loyal guy.
https://twitter.com/BBNation15/status/1187018817593065472
He proudly and loudly referred to himself as the Prince of OKC shortly after his arrival. Plus he is seemingly happy to be the star who takes the Thunder to the promised land. To borrow a phrase from a baseball movie “If Shai builds it they will come!”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0CVqkNp45q/?igshid=1jts4rcta560b
Moving back to the topic at hand, Steve Kerr‘s comments to Bill Simmons on his new The Book of Basketball podcast offered further insight. Perhaps the Warriors are feeling a tad salty over how things went down with Durant and now in hindsight, a few things are leaking out. Kerr specifically said he knew after the first championship KD was disappointed he didn’t get more recognition for beating the Cavaliers and LeBron specifically.
"‘I could feel it in him in the interviews, this kind of, ‘What else do I have to do? I just went toe-to-toe with LeBron James and I won. What else do I have to do?’ – Kerr"
That’s the thing about Durant there are always going to be conflicting statements. On one hand, he’ll say my jersey will be retired one day in OKC and then he’ll say “I’ll never go back to that organization”. He went to Golden State for the freedom in the offense and then leaves because he felt the offense didn’t offer freedom. Which is it?
"‘You nailed it. The same reason we got Kevin in the first place was the reason we lost him — he was restless. His first year with us, he was a sponge and he would ask questions constantly. It’s a very different style of play and he was playing with different players. I think he embraced it and he enjoyed it. The following year, I felt like Kevin started to drift. My feeling was he started to get restless, like, ‘This is all there is?’ – Kerr"
The most recent conflicting statement is he doesn’t care about where he ranks all-time or currently but there are multiple quotes from the superstar which hint otherwise.
Let’s face it Kevin Durant is a complex person and a talent of otherworldly proportions. He’s human so It’s understandable he might change his mind from time to time. That said, the fact remains it always comes back to KD feeling a specific way about how he’s viewed, how a team features him and if he feels limitations.
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The takeaway for OKC Thunder fans from Kerr’s comments is there wasn’t anything the Thunder could ever have done to keep Durant. Even more than the Warriors, the Thunder let him virtually do what he wanted.
In Golden State, he played with another MVP (Stephen Curry), a Finals MVP (Andre Iguodala) one of the best two-way men in the business who is All-Defense (Klay Thompson) and Defensive Player of the Year, Draymond Green. If he didn’t want to stay there and is citing a stilted offense (which for what it’s worth was the most unstoppable offense in the NBA) then no one can make him happy.
It sure will be interesting how KD integrates with the Brooklyn Nets when he does return from injury, particularly with Kyrie Irving who recently stated his own intentions to ascend as the league’s best player.
More specifically, how Kenny Atkinson will get his young charges to accept another superstar taking away their touches. Caris LeVert spoke to the NBA Game Time crew following the win over the Pelicans and stated they are learning how to play with Kyrie.
Kevin McHale asked LeVert if they had changed their offensive style to stop watching Kyrie play one on one. LeVert responded, “we let Kyrie do him, he’s great with the ball in his hands but sometimes we like to relieve him of those pressures”. The implication being sometimes they can play like they used to and others it’s about letting Kyrie get his.
Based on Durant feeling the need to move to another squad in order to find a more fluid offense if we read between the lines what he really means is more personal touches or an offense built around him.
Like his BFF – Irving, he might find it won’t be as simple to get 13 other guys who are happy to constantly give up their shots for him.