If Durant told Westbrook he was returning to OKC, it doesn't matter
What's done is done and the Thunder would be wise to get a handle on this Westbrook situation
By
Zach Harper
•
3 min read
The fallout of Kevin Durant's decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors might be more dramatic than the decision itself. First and foremost, it has left the Thunder in the precarious position of having to decide between hanging on to Russell Westbrook (and praying he'll re-sign when his own free agency hits in 2017) or moving him in a trade to avoid losing two superstars for nothing in consecutive summers.
And so, suffice it to say, Westbrook's feelings about how all this went down are not insignificant, and we have since found out that Westbrook was reportedly angry and hurt that he didn't receive a call from Durant before his decision. That would make a lot of sense, especially if Westbrook was under the impression that Durant was coming back to OKC for at least another year. Speaking of which ...
On a TrueHoop TV podcast on ESPN, Thunder reporter Royce Young told a story of Durant being at dinner with Westbrook and Nick Collison and telling them not to worry because he was coming back to OKC. Via Bleacher Report:
Three weeks ago, Kevin Durant's sitting there at dinner, telling him "Hey, I'm coming back, man. Don't worry about it." And now, Russell Westbrook has been kind of thrown into this in having to decide his future a summer earlier than expected.
Kevin Durant, more so than even that, was telling people, "Hey, yeah, I mean I'm coming back." Like I said in there, a week before Kevin Durant sat down in the Hamptons, he was in Oklahoma City ready to make an offer on a multi-million-dollar house. So, the guy was pretty serious about coming back, and then things turned rather quickly for him to leave. And there's no doubt that the organization felt a little bit burned by this.
It's worth pointing out that not very long after that story on the ESPN podcast was heard, someone asked Young if it's possible he misspoke or if K.D. did, in fact, lie to Westbrook or go back on his word. Young responded that he wasn't sure what he said but Westbrook was under the impression Durant would return after their meeting.
@Jet_Black@TrueHoopTV I'm not sure what I said. What I meant is Westbrook believed Durant would come back after their meeting.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) July 26, 2016
So what does this all mean? Did Durant lie to Westbrook? Was he telling the truth at the time only to change his mind after the meeting with the Warriors? It's possible Durant had every intention of returning to the Thunder. He has spoken about how hard it was to leave and there have been reports that he was worried about whether it was the right decision.
At the same time, a pitch from the Warriors and speaking to Klay Thompson about how roles would be filled out could've been the tipping point in deciding the Warriors were the team for him. It may have erased all his worries about leaving the Thunder to join a super-team with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Thompson. If that's the case, he didn't necessarily lie to Westbrook, but he did go back on what could've been interpreted as a promise at the time.
Either way, the Thunder have to move on and figure out the situation with Westbrook over the next few months. It doesn't really matter if Durant went back on his word because what's done is done. It could affect his relationship with Westbrook but that's for them to figure out down the road if they even want to. If this is all the case and Westbrook was lead to believe Durant would be back, it will make their match-ups against each other this season even more compelling -- if that's even possible.
