Kevin Durant has moved on, and it's time for everyone else to follow suit
It's time to let K.D. go
By
Matt Moore
•
3 min read
Kevin Durant has been running from the ghost of Oklahoma City since he left. He has constantly wanted the drama to be over. He has said some form of "I'm tired of talking about it" somewhere along the lines of 4,000 times.
Durant didn't want to carry around the baggage of the decision to leave OKC. He's also not torn. You hear the way Durant speaks about Oklahoma City, and the love he still has for the people there is real, it's genuine, but there's no regret.
(Check out the 26:10 mark of Durant's interview with Bill Simmons for good perspective on it.)
Durant is attending concerts and pursuing his interests in the Bay. He has adapted and started expanding his brand the way you do when you go to a major market. He has integrated with the Warriors and has built relationships with his teammates and coaches.
Kevin Durant has moved on. Oklahoma City hasn't.
Russell Westbrook ... well, that's complicated. Enes Kanter hasn't moved on, but the rest of the Thunder seem to have. OKC is going to be fine. Just as many people that root against Durant for leaving are hoping the Thunder will fall into disarray and misery, but they have strong management, a good pipeline of talent and have proven to be resourceful. This is Year Zero of the reconfiguration after Durant's defection and they're still the seventh seed in the West, eight games over .500. They're going to be fine.
But the city, the fans, they haven't. Saturday will be painful. Seeing Durant in blue and yellow, hearing him introduced as a Warrior, watching him score what will probably be 25-40 (or more) points on them, watching him with that one-handed tomahawk jam dunk on their team will hurt, deeply. But after the Warriors are done making whatever point it is they think they're making with a blowout victory, it will be over. Everyone's life will go on, the Thunder will play their next opponent, the Warriors will leave town for their next game.
For the first part of the season, Durant seemed plagued by his decision. The first beatdown of OKC in Oracle -- and the first two games being in the Bay is another way Durant's transition was easier than LeBron James' move to Miami, by the way -- seemed like therapy for K.D. The Warriors ran it up in both games and Durant played laser-focused. But as time has gone on, Durant has become more comfortable. He's a Warrior. He lives in the Bay. He's not the person he was last year, and he'll be different in a year, the way all of us will be. Durant's transition hasn't been conflicted, but a steady progression toward where he wants to be.
The emotions will be high Saturday, and they should be. But afterward, it's probably time for the rest of the world outside of Oklahoma City to move on. The media has done its job by asking Westbrook and Durant about their relationship, but the material is exhausted. It has been seven months since Durant left, and this first game in OKC is the final marker. We have new stories and new narratives to craft, from the Warriors battling their own expectations to Westbrook's triple-double Sisyphus performance -- the world keeps spinning.
Important note: This doesn't have anything to do with OKC. The fans get to hold a grudge forever. My five-year-old son started asking me about various players this week, and I hesitated in indulging his curiosity, because I immediately thought about what it must be like to explain to your kid that his favorite player bailed on his favorite team. There are bigger worries than sports, always, but real people had sucky days when Durant left on the Fourth of July. Those fans have earned the right to boo.
But that's about loyalty, and it's personal. The rest of us need to acknowledge the reality: Kevin Durant has moved on and it's time the rest of us catch up with him.
