The highly-anticipated return of Kevin Durant to Oklahoma City for the first time since he left for the Warriors this offseason will take place Saturday night.
There have been speculations about how the Thunder fans will treat Durant, who spent eight seasons in Oklahoma City. Some will say Durant should be received warmly for all he did for the Thunder, but no one expects that to actually happen. Fans rarely treat a player that leaves in free agency with a warm reception on their first trip back. Cleveland certainly didn’t welcome LeBron James back with open arms, and Oklahoma City shouldn’t be expected to be any different.
Thunder star Russell Westbrook, who played with Durant for those eight seasons in OKC and made up one of the NBA’s most electrifying tag teams, isn’t going to tell the fans how to react to Durant’s return either way.
“Nah, I mean it’s kind of up to them,” Westbrook said on Thursday night, per USA Today. “It’s up to them what they want to do. You know, obviously Kevin did a lot for Oklahoma City and our team when he was here, so it’s kind of up to them.
“It doesn’t really matter to me one way or another. It’s a basketball game. Gotta go out and compete.”
It’s a very Russ answer to the question. Despite his feud with Zaza Pachulia and the apparent animosity between he and Durant following their last meeting in Oakland, Westbrook isn’t going to ask for venom towards the Warriors or make a plea to the fans to welcome him back with open arms. This keeps Westbrook clean from any added controversy when Durant gets unmercifully booed by the Oklahoma City faithful (which will happen) because he’s on record as saying it doesn’t matter to him.
Durant should be prepared for boos. It’s just what happens when a player leaves in free agency (or sometimes if they’re traded, which always seems far more ridiculous). No matter how warranted the decision to leave was, fans will feel slighted and abandoned because they didn’t want to be here. For Durant, it’s compounded by his decision to leave for the Warriors, because the only thing worse than leaving in free agency is choosing to go to a super team.
So, in summation, Oklahoma City fans will boo. Westbrook’s hands will be clean, and Durant and the Warriors will continue their march towards their perceived championship destiny.
