Ever since news broke that the Oklahoma City Thunder would host the Houston Rockets on opening night of the 2025-26 NBA season, the bulk of attention has been geared toward the fact that Kevin Durant will be on the opposing side, watching his former team receive their championship rings.
Apparently, the future Hall of Famer is already sick of this narrative.
Just two weeks out from their October 21 season tip-off out at Paycom Center, Durant was asked by Kay Adams to share his thoughts on the league pinning him and the Thunder against one another to not only kick off the campaign, but for Oklahoma City's Ring Ceremony no less.
In response, the 37-year-old admitted that he's not sure exactly how to feel, saying, "I don't know whether to think that's cool or not."
"I'm not happy or sad or mad [that] I missed out. I won a championship -- two of them, for one. And, for two, [I left] like a decade ago," Durant said.
Kevin Durant wants focus to be on Thunder during Ring Ceremony
As the old saying goes, time heals all wounds.
However, in the case of Durant's cowardly departure from OKC via free agency to the exact team that spoiled their title hopes back in 2016, the Golden State Warriors, perhaps not enough time has passed for all to be forgotten and forgiven.
Of course, despite the fact that there may still be residual pain and disdain for the 15x All-Star, he brought up an inarguable point during his discussion with Adams -- the ring and banner ceremony should be about the Thunder, not him.
"Them getting their rings is the most important thing," Durant said.
Shifting the focus away from Oklahoma City and, instead, on the man that spurned them nine years ago would, in a way, be somewhat of a disservice and just flat-out disrespectful to what this team managed to accomplish just a season ago.
After all, we're talking about one of the most dominant teams, not just in recent memory, but of all time, as the Thunder won the fifth-most games in a single regular season (68), set the league record for highest point differential (+12.9), and capped everything off with an epic, Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers to take home their first Larry O'Brien Trophy of the Sooner State era.
So while he admits that he hopes the fans "pan over to see my reaction," in the end, Durant seems to be tired of this whole rivalry narrative and hopes, at least during the pre-game honors, that attention is predominantly on the Thunder and their 2025 NBA Championship run.