Kevin Durant will be returning to the Bay Area for the first time since he left in the summer of 2019 on Tuesday night when the Phoenix Suns start their 2023-24 season against the Golden State Warriors. Looking back on his time with the Warriors, which included back-to-back championships, Durant says his No. 35 should be lifted into the rafters.
Shortly after Durant left the Warriors to join the Brooklyn Nets, team co-chairman and CEO Joe Lacob released a statement in which he said, "No player will ever wear No. 35 for the Warriors again."
Speaking with Marc J. Spears of Andscape ahead of his return to Golden State, Durant said the Warriors should absolutely retire his number. Between a pair of NBA titles and two Finals MVP trophies, Durant says he earned that recognition in his three seasons with the team.
"Look at the résumé," Durant said. "That would warrant me to get a jersey retirement, right? Do I want to be honored by a franchise I put work in for? Of course, I would love that. I had some great moments there. I built some solid relationships there. Yeah, man. Hell yeah, that would be sweet. I love that organization, man. I love my time there, seriously. Me leaving, people shouldn't doubt that, because I left there.
"I've played there without the fans and I played against them in an arena where they were [the visiting team]," Durant said. "But definitely, Bay Area fans are one of a kind. So, I know they're going to show love, but I'm not expecting nothing extra, to be honest."
While Durant's time with Golden State was brief, it was incredibly successful. The team won back-to-back championships in his first two seasons with the Warriors, and Durant played some of the best basketball of his career there. In 208 games with Golden State, Durant averaged 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game.
Now that Durant is with the Phoenix Suns, it will be interesting to see the kind of reception he gets at the Chase Center on Tuesday night. That game tips off at 10:00 p.m. ET.
