NBA superstar and Washington, D.C.-native Kevin Durant announced this past week that if he were to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder at the end of the 2015-2016 season, it would be to return home and sign with the Washington Wizards.
Durant didn’t exactly have the best season. In fact, as arguably one of the top three players in the league, Durant had possibly the quietest season a star could ever have. Really, if it weren’t for those Sonic commercials, the only time he would have even been mentioned on TV was in regards to another foot injury or the Lil B Based God curse that he brought upon himself by tweeting “I tried to listen to Lil B and my mind wouldn’t let me do it….can’t believe this guy is relevant.”
I guess after Durant’s woes this season and James Harden’s bad games in the Western Conference Finals players will start being a little nicer to Lil B.
Of course Durant would have been talked about a lot more if Russell Westbrook wasn’t having a career year with triple-doubles every other night. The team actually came within one win of the playoffs. Considering Durant was only able to play in 27 games, that’s definitely an impressive finish.
The real question here is, WILL Durant actually leave OKC after all the success he’s had with the organization?
Yeah, probably. Well, maybe.
Obviously injuries are a part of sports, but no one likes to go through them. I imagine Durant started to feel a bit disconnected from the team throughout the season simply because he wasn’t able to go out on the court and contribute on a nightly basis. So the season ends, the Thunder miss the playoffs; and seemingly out of nowhere they decide to fire head coach Scott Brooks—who, among others on the roster, was passionately backed and supported by Durant.
Sure, general manager Sam Presti shouldn’t be letting Durant or anyone else determine how he does his job or what transactions he makes; but you would think Presti would be a little quicker to ensure Durant is happy, especially with his contract expiring at the end of this coming season.
So Durant probably isn’t happy about Brooks getting canned.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what KD decides to do. Personally, I believe he’ll leave. I think that the firing of Brooks planted the seeds of doubt (in the loyalty of the organization) and then Russ will only make things worse. Let’s be honest, he was a hot topic this season. Now he has to go back to being the second best player on the Thunder. No way he’s going to be okay with that.
You’ll mesh better with John Wall anyways, Kevin.