Reigning MVP Kevin Durant, his 2014-15 season officially wrecked by a Jones fracture in his right foot that required a third surgical procedure on Tuesday, made some of his strongest comments to date about his desire to remain with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Durant, in a recent interview with Revolt TV (per ESPN.com), said he hasn’t really thought about playing for any other franchise and invoked the names of some of the NBA’s biggest stars when talking about his desire to remain a single-team player for his career.
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“I love it here, man,” Durant said. “I love my teammates, I love the city, I don’t really think about anywhere else.
“I hear it all the time, don’t get me wrong, and once you hear it you’re kind of like [looks up, thinking]. But for me, I love staying in the moment and I’m one of those guys that would love to stick it out with one team my whole career.”
Durant broke his foot during the offseason, after opting out of playing for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, and missed the first 17 games of the season, during which time the Thunder stumbled to a 5-12 start—point guard Russell Westbrook missed significant time during that stretch as well.
When he returned, he scored 27 points in 30 minutes of a Dec. 2 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans and played in only nine games before he was out of the lineup again, missing six games with a sprained ankle.
The foot continued to be an issue, as he missed two games in late January and two more in early February.
He returned for five games, but after a 4-for-14 performance in 37 minutes in a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 19, it was revealed he needed another procedure on the foot.
Durant returned to workouts until he was shut down again March 20, when he was removed from all basketball activities.
He had a bone graft procedure on Tuesday, officially ending a season during which the eighth-year veteran played in only 27 games after missing just 16 games in his first seven years in the NBA.
Durant hasn’t talked much about his future, even as outside speculation about joining the Washington Wizards—near his childhood home of Baltimore—heated up.
“I love playing for Oklahoma City, man,” Durant said when the Thunder visited the Wizards in January. “There’s just a certain level of pride that I have when I play with that ‘Oklahoma City’ on my chest. So that’s the only thing I’m focused on.
“Everybody knows that I represent where I come from that no matter where I play at, no matter what arena. But I’m just focused on playing with Oklahoma City. It feels like home now. That’s where I am.”
The Thunder will hold Durant’s Bird rights if he does enter free agency after the 2015-16 season, allowing Oklahoma City to offer their superstar an extra year and more money than any other club.
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He was originally drafted in 2007, when the franchise was still the Seattle SuperSonics, and has been with the Thunder since the club moved to Oklahoma in 2008.
The Most Valuable Player award he won in 2013-14 was the first by the franchise, either in Seattle or Oklahoma City, dating back to its expansion season of 1967-68.
“Kobe [Bryant], Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki,” Durant said when referring to players who have spent their entire careers with one club. “But you never know what the future holds sometimes and how teams may feel about you after a while, but I love it here and I would love to get my jersey retired here.”
The Thunder traded away a future star, James Harden, in 2012—in part because general manager Sam Presti decided that the club’s future was linked to Durant and Westbrook.
So if he is able to shake the foot problems, it would make sense to commit to Kevin Durant for the even longer haul.
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