Kevin Durant waved to the fans. He clapped his hands. He then motioned them to chant louder.
"Save Our Sonics!!!" a sell-out crowd pleaded. "Save Our Sonics!!"
Durant just finished what he considered his most memorable game of his NBA rookie season. The reasons went beyond delaying the Dallas Mavericks' hope to clinch a playoff spot. Even if Durant did not know it definitively at the time, the game on April 13, 2008 also marked the last time the Seattle Sonics would play at Key Arena before relocating to Oklahoma City. And over a decade later, Durant remembered vividly the words and chants that filled his eardrums.
"It was indescribable man," Durant recalled with a small group of reporters. "I can't put into words the energy of the building and the amount of love. The support that was in the building was incredible."
Durant might experience something similar when the Warriors (0-1) and Sacramento Kings (0-0) play a preseason game on Friday at Key Arena. It might spark pleasant reminders of Durant's lone season in Seattle (2007-08) that ended in winning the NBA's Rookie of the Year award. It might yield frustration over the Sonics franchise changing its location (Oklahoma City) and name (Thunder) amid the team's ownership group and local officials disagreeing over the cost and ability either to renovate or build a new arena. And it might also provide hope that Seattle will field an NBA team someday.
All of which captures a memorable albeit short-lived legacy that Durant left in Seattle.
"People are probably looking at him as a shooting star," said Rick Welts, the Warriors president and chief operating officer. "He's here for a minute, and gone. But that minute was incredible with his rookie of the year season. The franchise seemed to be on an amazing trajectory at that point."
Welts' words carries perspective considering his Hall-of-Fame career includes ties to the Sonics franchise as a former ballboy and public relations official. That also explains why Welts became instrumental in setting up a Warriors' pre-season game in Seattle ever since Durant joined the Warriors as a free agent in 2016. Welts reasoned, "I thought it would be a neat thing to be able to do, not only for (Durant) but for the city."
Amid that backdrop, Durant might want to bring a pair of earplugs. As Durant predicted, "the energy is going to be amazing in the building." The Seattle sports market recently enjoyed the NFL's Seahawks winning the Super Bowl (2014) the MLS' Sounders winning the Cup (2016) and the WNBA's Storm winning a championship (2010, 2018). So why can't the Sonics join the party?
"The Seahawks had some success. Now the Storm had some success. But everybody in the basketball world and the NBA knows the Sonics need to be back in Seattle," Durant said. "I'm looking forward to going out there and playing. Hopefully we give them a show."
