The Kevin Durant story is fascinating, and to be honest, it’s difficult to put a finger on why. He’s one of the best players in the NBA today. He’s one of the best players in the NBA, ever. He’s a regular season MVP. He’s an NBA Finals MVP. He’s an NBA Champion. Those are fascinating accolades, but something about Kevin Durant the person is profoundly interesting. The way he carries himself, the way he talks about things, his honesty, his mistakes – just when you think you’ve read every Durant anecdote there is to read, another interesting wrinkle surfaces.
Let’s set the immediate scene here. The Thunder signed University of South Carolina guard P.J. Dozier to a two-way contract this summer. Dozier is in the NBA’s G-League playing for the Oklahoma City Blue right now, but most notably, he’s wearing Durant’s old no. 35 for the Thunder.
If you’re looking for a reason to call the Thunder petty, it doesn’t take a lot of convincing to call them petty for giving Durant’s number to anyone, let alone a marginal NBA prospect like Dozier. At the same time, if this is the number Dozier requested, should the Thunder say no? Maybe? That’s up for debate.
It’s difficult to imagine this happening here in 2017, but somewhere down the line, Durant’s no. 35 is probably going to hand from the rafter in Oklahoma City someday. I know, I know, it’s easy to think that’s impossible now, but believe it or not, far worse relationships have been mended in the past, and Durant has the accolades to warrant such an honor. Maybe the Thunder hold on to this grudge forever, but that seems unlikely.
Does that change the fact that the Thunder should or shouldn’t have given no. 35 to Dozier? Again, I’m not sure. Again, it’s up for debate.
Bleacher Reports Ric Bucher dropped an excellent interview with Durant on Thursday afternoon, and in said interview, Durant explained how he felt after hearing the news.
“I didn’t have that perspective at first. I didn’t have it when I went back to OKC. I was like, ‘F–k all of them.’ I didn’t have it when they gave my number away. I was, ‘F–k all of them.’ My best friend works for the team, I told him, ‘F–k all y’all. That’s f–ked up.’ Then I had to get out of my head, tell myself, ‘It’s not that serious, it is what it is.’ I understand it’s not my number anymore, they can do whatever they want with it, but you hand that number to a two-way player, you’ve got to be, like, ‘Nah, we’ve got too many good memories with this number, man.'”
This is such a perfectly flawed Kevin Durant response, and that’s why he’s so fascinating. He’s flawed like everybody else, but he doesn’t even try to hide it. It’s easy to poke holes in Durant’s reasoning here. For instance, he’s so offended that the Thunder gave away his number, claiming “that’s f*cked up,” and while he may be right, there is a bit hypocrisy here because Durant has been just as petty to OKC in the past.
Durant arrived at the same conclusion over the course of his answer, and the acknowledgment of his hypocrisy is something I can really appreciate.
“But at some point, that thing’s going to be in the rafters anyway; it’s all good. I did something they didn’t like. They did something I didn’t like. Sh*t happens. If I was on my death bed, I guarantee you Sam Presti and Russell Westbrook would come check on me. So I’m going to look at it that way rather than the other way.”
Despite all the bad blood, I’m inclined to side with Durant here. Westbrook and Presti would check on Durant if he was going through something serious, as is usually the case in life. Tragedy brings people together. I don’t think it’ll come to that before both sides patch things up, but Durant’s larger point that someday, somehow, everything is going to be ok is something that feels inevitable.
