As most people who follow basketball well know, Kevin Durant left his long time team the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason, seeking a better opportunity to win a championship. And boy did he get one, bringing his once in a generation scoring talent, MVP, freak athlete portfolio onto a Golden State squad that already broke the regular season record for wins the year before. But many have speculated it was also because he wanted to play for a team where the other stars where more willing passers (so not Westbrook). But as LeBron’s experience should show you, fans of a franchise don’t care about your reasons. Not only do they not care about your reasons, they don’t even care about all the success and good time you brought to them. They just care that you left. And as the video above will show you (taken from Chris Smoove’s YouTube channel, be sure and subscribe), the return home was none to pleasant for Durant.
But in basketball, what it comes down to is winning. The Warriors won the matchup last night, 130-114, and Durant scored 34 points, and all the booing and clever signs in the world won’t change that. Durant made comments after the game on how he “expected worse”; his mom on the other hand had a choice word or two to say about the OKC fan’s treatment of Durant. It should be noted that Durant was a wonderful philanthropist during his time in Oklahoma, donating a million dollars to tornado relief funds, building basketball courts for children, and even going himself to sites affected by storms and cleaning and rebuilding along with the rest of the relief effort. He was a true citizen and this shouldn’t’ be overlooked. That being said, nobody who has watched similar scenarios in the past can say they were surprised by this outcome. Tempers will cool over time, and that is about all Durant can hope for. Something tells me come June when he is competing in a NBA finals for the first time since the Thunders 4-1 shellacking by the Heat in 2012, he will not be thinking about a February game where fans held up “cupcake” signs.
Word Count: 364
