With superstar Kevin Durant moving on to the Golden State Warriors, can the OKC Thunder still compete in the Western Conference?
The unimaginable has become reality. Former Oklahoma City Thunder franchise player Kevin Durant has spurned the team that drafted him to join the reigning Western Conference champs in the Golden State Warriors.
The highly coveted free agent wrote in a piece for The Players’ Tribune that he felt joining a team that won 73 games last season was the best choice for his growth as a player and a man.
However, it’s hard for fans of the game to view this move as anything other than a cop-out as Durant leaves a team that was a win away from the Finals for the very team that beat them in the Western Conference Finals.
No matter how it’s sliced, what’s done is done and Durant is headed to the Bay. Now the question is: are the Oklahoma City Thunder still a player in the Western Conference without him?
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Let’s start with the obvious: the Thunder still have a bonafide superstar, perennial MVP candidate and franchise player in Russell Westbrook.
With his partner in crime gone, fans’ dreams of Westbrook being the star of his own show can finally come to fruition.
He’s more than capable of doing so, as evidenced by a 2014-15 campaign in which Durant played in only 27 games and Westbrook won the scoring title with 28.1 points per game while putting up nine triple-doubles throughout the course of the season.
He’s finally figured out how to combine his electric scoring skills with natural point guard ability, as evidenced by his becoming the first player in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 10 assists, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in a single season.
In such a sudden instance, the Thunder are fortunate enough to not only still have a superstar, but one that dominates every facet of the game at the most crucial position on the floor the way Westbrook does.
They will need their point guard to play more unbridled than ever and he will finally have the green light that he and many others have long wanted for him.
In addition, you can bet that Durant’s departure will only add more fuel to the fire for a player whose rage is the essence of his game.
Even outside of Westbrook, the Thunder have one of the best supporting casts they’ve had in their short time as a franchise.
Starting center Steven Adams continues to evolve and had his best season yet, averaging 8.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in his first full season as a starter.
Adams was essential to the Thunder’s successful 2016 playoff run as a tertiary scorer and primary rebounder, seeing his averages increase to 10.1 points and 9.5 boards a night.
He’s developed into a crucial threat in the pick-and-roll with Westbrook and will undoubtedly be given more minutes and offensive touches as a result of Durant’s departure.
The Thunder also have significant offensive contributors in Enes Kanter and newly acquired 2-guard Victor Oladipo.
Kanter is a polished player in the post who is almost a walking double-double, having averaged 18.1 points and 11.1 rebounds a night in 26 games as a starter in the 2014-15 season before thriving as the Thunder’s sixth man last season.
Oladipo, on the other hand, is a versatile guard capable of providing a secondary scoring punch from the perimeter with his ability to finish in the lane and his decent three point stroke (a career-high .348 clip last season).
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Glue guy
Andre Robersondeveloped nicely during the course of the 2015-16 season and postseason and will inevitably be asked to play more quality minutes on the wing with the departures of Durant and (likely)
Dion Waiters.
Lastly, head coach Billy Donovan showed that he was more than capable of making the proper adjustments to put this team in position to compete and will be presented with such a task once again in this upcoming season.
The Thunder have lost their first star and the player who was the perennial face of their franchise, but that does not mean that they will fall into the ranks of the cellar dwellers in the Western Conference.
In the post-Durant era, Oklahoma City will be a team that rests its laurels on strong post play, stifling perimeter defense and, when all else fails, a megastar capable of scoring in bunches while getting his teammates efficient looks to keep them involved.
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Durant may have taken their hopes of title contention with him to the Bay, but the Thunder are more than capable of being a playoff team in the Western Conference without him.