There's no question that bad blood still exists between the OKC Thunder and former cornerstone Kevin Durant, who spurned the franchise back in the summer of 2016 for the same team that had just overcome their 3-1 conference finals lead in the Golden State Warriors.
However, while this disdain certainly lives on among fans directed at the future Hall of Famer, the same might not be able to be said about Durant in regard to the franchise.
In fact, his recent comments on Oklahoma City's 2025 squad appear to be far more loving than loathing.
Kevin Durant hypes OKC Thunder ahead of 2025 NBA Finals
Well-known for his activity on social media, on Thursday Durant was asked by an X user whether he believes his 2012 Finals-bound Thunder team would have beaten this current version, which is now heading to the championship round once more in a seven-game series.
While he may regularly present himself as somewhat of a braggadocio on social media, in this particular instance, the 36-year-old took a rather unexpected approach with his response, as he noted that he's "not big on hypotheticals, so idk," before continuing to heap praise upon this year's ball club.
"...this 2025 thunder team, they are historically great. Great shooting all across the board, efficient go to scorer in deuce, size and athleticism all across the board, versatility, shooting big and bruiser big, great coaching. Just a flat out perfectly crafted unit," Durant wrote.
As acknowledged by Durant, this Thunder team has undoubtedly proven itself to be "historically great" all year long, especially throughout this ongoing playoff run, where they've set a plethora of all-time records, such as the most playoff wins by 30 or more points (four)
and becoming the first team to have three separate 30+ point halftime leads in a single postseason.
In a somewhat ironic turn of events, however, what's perhaps most noteworthy about this online interaction between the 15-time All-Star and the fan is the fact that there is now yet another similarity that can be drawn between these two eras of Oklahoma City basketball -- neither is big on comparing one with the other.
Less than 24 hours before Durant stated that he's not into these kinds of hypotheticals, current Thunder cornerstone Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was found shutting down a reporter's comments that attempted to link his club to the one back in 2012, as he bluntly said, "There's no correlation at all."
Of course, despite this post-game reaction by the MVP, there have been many occasions throughout the years where he's shown respect to his predecessors who have donned the blue, orange, and yellow threads, going as far as to refer to them as "pioneers."
Nevertheless, it appears that Durant and SGA are both far from interested in comparing and contrasting.
For them, it's all about respecting the product that's put out on the floor and, to KD, this 2025 Thunder unit is "puttin together great film to learn from."