Serge Ibaka has a good reason why Kevin Durant can't leave the Thunder
Thunder big man Serge Ibaka believes the former MVP will return
•
1 min read
Serge Ibaka has been teammates with Kevin Durant for seven years, and he does not expect things to be different next year. With Durant's free agency coming up, Ibaka expressed no doubt about the superstar's future.
"I have confidence," Ibaka said Wednesday, per ESPN's Royce Young. "Where he going to go? Tell me. After what we did in the playoffs this year, where? If he gonna go somewhere, where?"
Ibaka makes a good point. The Thunder eliminated a 67-win team from the playoffs and were one victory away from eliminating a 73-win team and advancing to the NBA Finals. Durant will have other options, but he does not need to go anywhere else to compete for a championship. He could join the Golden State Warriors or San Antonio Spurs if he wanted to play in an offensive system with more ball movement and player movement, but if that was his No. 1 priority, you'd think he would have influenced the Thunder to go in that direction.
Durant himself has said nothing that indicates he has a foot out the door, and he does not want to be wined and dined on a free-agency tour. He even called Oklahoma City "home" during his end-of-season media availability.
"You can look Kevin in his eyes, you can hear him talk about OKC," Thunder guard Randy Foye said, per ESPN, "and you know where his heart is at."
There were times where Durant leaving Oklahoma City seemed much more likely than it does now. The Thunder's postseason run was the best recruiting tool they could have hoped for.
