Suns set roles, rotations for 5-game road trip
The Suns (41-29) seem to have set roles and rotations as they begin a five-game road trip with the second-toughest remaining NBA schedule.
My Next Chapter.
Kevin Durant’s Players’ Tribune post on July 4, 2016, was aptly titled. The Book of Kevin always has a next chapter.
Golden State, of course, was the next chapter, the second chapter, the most controversial chapter. Durant ditched the Thunder on Independence Day, igniting a trail of Black Cats on his way from Bricktown to the Bay.
Oklahoma City was the first chapter. Seattle was the prologue. Brooklyn is a chapter worth skipping and the Phoenix chapter is unfinished, but beware, it starts slow.
The chapters of Durant’s career change abruptly, not at all in concert with Durant’s graceful game. There are loose ends, uncommon of a legend. Durant’s narrative is messy. Pages upon pages of brilliance with few connective threads.
Durant and the Suns will be in town Friday. Thunder fans will boo Durant, but not as mercilessly as they once did. Durant has moved on, too, reflecting fondly on his OKC days and going out of his way to compliment the young Thunder.
“It was special what we did, regardless of championships or not,” Durant said earlier this season.
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Time heals all wounds.
It makes you wonder. Is there a world in which Durant plays for the Thunder again?
Aside from leading his hometown Wizards to the promised land, it’s the only outcome that could tie the frayed strings of Durant’s career into a neat bow.
Unlikely, yes, but not preposterous.
Such a move would do more for Durant, for his legacy, than for the Thunder. Rejoining the Thunder would not only be a storybook homecoming, but it would also make perfect basketball sense: a declining star joining an ascending team. Or by that time, an ascendant team.
Durant, to be clear, doesn’t need a fairytale ending. And he might not want one. A return to OKC could be too predictable for the enigmatic Durant.
And even if Durant wants a swan song in OKC, that doesn’t mean the Thunder will play ball.
Sam Presti and the Thunder don’t do a lot of looking back. This is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s city now, and he has a pair of dynamite sidekicks in Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.
Every basketball team from now until the planet goes dark could use a Kevin Durant, but the Thunder might not need a Kevin Durant.
More: OKC Thunder, minus Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, falls short in OT to Jalen Green, Rockets
But this is Kevin freaking Durant.
Such a reunion would probably have to wait until the 2026-27 season at the earliest, when Durant’s four-year, $194 million contract comes off the books. He’d be 37 by then, but even at that age he’d profile as the most luxury role player imaginable. Jumpshots age well, and Durant’s is pure perfection.
After his rookie season in Seattle, Durant spent eight glorious seasons in Oklahoma City. We sometimes lose sight of that. Durant doesn’t owe the city anything more. He’s the reason the world knows the acronym “OKC.”
Nike tried to convince us that KD was not nice, which no one believed until he teamed up with the Warriors in the summer of ‘16. It was a ruthless move, but one that came with two rings. Two Finals MVPs.
Durant clearly wasn’t fulfilled, though. He left the Warriors and made the dubious decision to team up with Kyrie Irving on a Nets franchise no one cares about. Not even in New York.
Phoenix seemed like a great basketball fit for Durant, but the vibes have been amiss and the injuries aplenty among him, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The Suns are fighting to stay out of the play-in.
A first-round Thunder-Suns playoff matchup is certainly possible. Maybe that would reopen a wound, or maybe a Thunder win would be cathartic revenge for OKC fans who still resent Durant, whose No. 35 jersey will hang in the rafters of the Thunder’s new arena one day.
Would I bet on Kevin Durant playing for the Thunder again? No. But who among us hasn’t considered the possibility? I bet Durant has.
The Book of Kevin could use a fairytale ending. A Final Chapter in Oklahoma City.
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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Thunder vs. Suns
TIPOFF: 7 p.m. Friday at Paycom Center (KSBI)