The Oklahoma City Thunder finally recovered from Kevin Durant backstabing the organization in 2016.
Some wounds may never heal, but the OKC Thunder, a favorite to win the 2025 NBA Finals, will certainly make up for Kevin Durant’s 2016 pain-inducing move.
Since leaving OKC, Durant has played for the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Net and the Phoenix Suns. Now, 36 years old, Durant is rumored to be leaving the Sun.
Many have proposed lawsuits that Durant will return to the Thunder. But Bill Simmons recently discussed a hypothetical scenario about KD’s career, so let’s put it for a moment on the backburner.
Durant may have climbed the stairs to stardom in the lightning jersey, but no one can forget that he was originally drafted by Seattle Supersonics.
With that in mind, Simmons discussed how the city of Seattle has one of the “most catastrophic” franchise relocations in NBA history.
“I was wondering about them in the context of the franchise relocation that is historically the most devastating,” Simmons said on his podcast. “Because Seattle hasn’t just lost professional basketball since 2008. They’re also losing Durant.”
Simmons further argued that if the franchise relocation never happened, Supersonics could have witnessed similar success as the Warriors.
“This is a completely different Kevin Durant conversation. If they were just staying in Seattle, they would have a lot of money.
“Seaton is, so I think it’s very similar to Silicon Valley, like how the Warriors became a superpower,” Simmons added.
“Even though the warriors were confused up until the beginning of 2000, they had all this money and they just built a superpower,” he pointed out.
When it comes to talking about the most loyal player in NBA history, it’s impossible for Kobe Bryant to not mention him, as Mamba spent all 20 seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Simmons believes that if Seattle still had the franchise, Durant might have had a career trajectory similar to Bryant’s.
“They could make it. I don’t think Durant is leaving. I think he’ll be in Seattle for the rest of his life. I think he’ll still be there. I think he’s like Kobe for the Lakers in Seattle.
He went a step further and added that former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook might have been alongside Durant in this hypothetical scenario.
“I think it was the only way that exploded unless he and Westbrook grew,” Simmons concluded.