Kevin Durant fondly recalls his days with the OKC Thunder, but even he can’t believe how good they are at such a young age.
Kevin Durant’s stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder looks back with fog-like eyes. Although exit was controversial, he had nine great seasons with his team.
Perhaps none of these teams are remembered as nostalgically as the Thunder side of 2011-12, featuring Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
GM Sam Presti has discovered the Thunder Three Three Future MVPS.
Thunder hadn’t won the NBA Championship, but many fans thought they were seeing a new dynasty being born.
However, no one was ready for them, including Sam Presty, so he made the mistake that ultimately led to the hopes of the super team disappearing.
During a conversation with Lebron James and Steve Nash for Mind The Game, Kevin Durant discussed his time with OKC Thunder.
He believes no one expects such a group of young talented players to find success. So they overshooted the timeline significantly and caught everyone off guard.
“I think we exceeded expectations for that team. If we reach the NBA Finals and run that kind of run right away, I don’t think the GM or the owners are ready to do that.
“We all, we all, the timeline, each player… we went beyond the timeline, but they weren’t ready for it. That’s my theory.
“It was beautiful. We were ahead of our times. Everything happened too quickly.”
Speaking further during the episode, Durant reflected on why their team didn’t return to the NBA Finals.
He pointed out that the Thunder should have traded James Harden for the next offseason and upgraded the roster.
But he admitted that, just like them, GM Sam Presti was very young and had studied the job.
“As we’ve reached the final, you’re supposed to upgrade, tweak and make changes. You’ll become one of the key figures on your team and you can’t expect us to win.
“I think they were shocked at how fast we got. Sometimes it gets confused. Plus, was Sam Presty 30?
“He was young. Everyone was young, so we were trying to understand this landscape we were in, trying to understand things.”
2012 OKC Thunder was instant. Fans want to know how they carried the superstar trio if they were kept together.
It’s hard to imagine a world where three superstars played together and didn’t win the NBA championship.
But that’s not the current timeline. However, OKC fans can easily rest by winning the NBA Championship. Especially because Kevin Durant claims that this OKC team is better than 2012.