It sounds like Kevin Durant was destined to leave Oklahoma City one way or the other.
Durant famously left the Thunder to join Golden State following the 2016 season. The move caused a lot of animosity between Durant and Russell Westbrook, as well as between Durant and the Oklahoma City fans, something that has yet to be fully resolved almost four years later.
In the most recent episode of SHOWTIME Basketball’s All The Smoke, Durant joined former teammate Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson to discuss the decision to leave and how it started long before the Warriors beat Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals.
“My mind was already thinking about how can I develop my game more so than the Warriors vs. Thunder, that rivalry. Like, even if it was a rivalry, I didn’t give a f–k — I just wanted to keep developing my game, you know what I’m saying,” asked Durant. “They’re a new fresh team, they’re on the rise. I f–k with them.
So me going there, it didn’t matter if [the Thunder] would have won or lost the series. I wanted to play there and live in The Bay.”
Durant spent three seasons with Golden State, winning back-to-back NBA Championships with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 before tearing his Achilles during the 2019 Finals against Toronto. The Raptors went on to win the series 4-2.
Although he joined the Brooklyn Nets during free agency, Durant is still working back from his Achilles injury.
He’s continued to take shots at Oklahoma City, as well as some of his former teammates, in interviews and on social media.
In September he called his return to Chesapeake Energy Arena a “toxic environment”, and recently got into a Twitter feud with former Thunder teammate, Kendrick Perkins, over Perkins calling Russell Westbrook the “best to ever put on an Oklahoma City Thunder uniform”.
