The Oklahoma City Thunder would accept Kevin Durant if he ever chose to come back, but if he did, why would he do it and how would it work?
Everybody knows the story. Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder in search of a ring so he signed to the Golden State Warriors. Moving to the Warriors was one of the boldest moves a player could ever make.
When he played in OKC, he was subject to a hailstorm of boos. The boos started from the before the game in warmups, carrying on through the beginning of the game to the end of the game, raining down every time he touched the ball.
If he wanted to come back though, the whole Thunder nation would accept him and love to have him.
It was obvious that the Thunder needed him back after the season that they had. Russell Westbrook‘s season was magical but the result was not how the team wanted to end its run. The Thunder will be able to win games as long as they have Westbrook because he is a dynamic superstar.
When they had a second one in Kevin Durant, they had a chance to contend for championships.
Westbrook was the second player to average a triple-double in the history of the NBA and he has the most triple-doubles ever in a single season. What can be more dynamic than that? He also took a Thunder team that doesn’t have any players that you would consider All-Stars to the playoffs. The fact that they won one game does not matter; the fact that they made it to the playoffs as the sixth seed makes it even more of an accomplishment.
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This team that the Thunder put together for the season was not supposed to be in the playoffs. Many experts thought the Thunder would struggle to make the postseason but with Westbrook’s will and determination, they exceeded expectations.
Kevin Durant returning to OKC would be great for the city. It would also mean that Durant and Westbrook were reunited. That relationship would have to be repaired before Durant could come back. Westbrook is the leader of the team and it goes through him.
KD left Westbrook hanging when he didn’t tell him that he was leaving. They would have to talk it out before things click again, and the problems that they had on the court in their first tenure together would have to be worked out also.
Kendrick Perkins said that Westbrook and Durant are on talking terms now and that could mean that they could be open to linking back up again in the future. Durant has a player option this summer and he could make a move back to the Thunder when the season ends, though he’s said he’s not going anywhere in free agency. Winning a title or a couple of titles would obviously hurt OKC’s chances of ever seeing him in a Thunder uniform again too.
But if KD were to ever return while Westbrook was still in OKC, the two would have to talk out who gets the ball at the end and who takes the big shots. That was the problem when they were together.
They would have to shut out the media, because Durant said that was a problem when he was there — the media was blowing things out of proportion.
They would have to shut out the media by laughing off everything said or written about them. Westbrook had to disrupt a question during the playoffs asked to Steven Adams because he thought the reporter was trying to break up the team.
The reporter asked Adams why does the Thunder seemed to drop off when Westbrook wasn’t in the game, and Westbrook interjected, letting everyone know he wasn’t happy with the reporter for even suggesting that.
Durant would probably have to apologize his teammates too, because unlike LeBron James‘ departure, most of the players that the Thunder have are still there.
When LeBron left and came back to Cleveland, the Cavaliers didn’t have the same players that were there when he left. In the Thunder players’ minds, what he did was a betrayal and he would have to address the elephant in the room.
Durant would want to return for the same reason that LeBron did. He would want to win a championship in OKC and for OKC, and that would be a great accomplishment for him. Also just like LeBron, Durant would demand a team around him that could win a championship — and win multiple championships.
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A return for Durant down the line seems like it makes sense but it would all be up to him and nobody knows what he is thinking. Nobody knows what the Warriors or the Thunder will look like in a few years either, but if KD ever did return, the Thunder would be back on track to contend for a ring.