Kevin Durant Says His Time in Oklahoma City Was His Favorite NBA Era

Kevin Durant continues to speak highly of his time in Oklahoma City.

Mar 3, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Despite Kevin Durant’s heavily criticized departure from Oklahoma City, the wounds have been beginning to heal from both fronts. The former MVP is no longer on the Golden State Warriors and that era of basketball has come and gone. Durant has talked about what he would’ve done differently and has been very complimentary of the Thunder over the last few years.

Oklahoma City’s second rebuild has somewhat resembled the first outside of trading for a cornerstone in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Of course, SGA wasn’t a star when he arrived in OKC, but has since grown into an MVP candidate. The young, fun, athletic team taking the league by storm earlier than expected has all the correlation though.

Durant has been on a handful of great teams, won multiple championships and has played with a slew of Hall of Fame teammates. In a recent interview at Boardroom though, he mentioned his early years being in Oklahoma City as his most enjoyable seasons in the NBA.

“It has to be the OKC time period because it was like the entry point into all of this,” Durant said when asked about the most fun he has had in the league. “That's like the foundation of everything. We were young and we were playing against dynasties, you know what I’m saying? 

“We were competing against the Lakers with Kobe when they won back-to-back, Dallas when they won a championship, Miami with LeBron and Dwayne Wade. That was the start of it all and I think a coming in early, me, James (Harden), Russ (Westbrook), Serge (Ibaka), we were 22 or 23 thrown into the fire.”

Hindsight is 20-20, and Durant has detailed what he would’ve done differently if given another chance at things. But no matter how ugly the departure was, his time in Oklahoma City is what shaped Thunder basketball.

He won an MVP, took a team to the NBA Finals, and added up an unbelievable amount of wins for the young franchise. His Thunder teams won a handful of playoff series’s and gave OKC fans some of the best basketball in franchise history — Oklahoma City and Seattle.

His complimentary comments regarding the Thunder over the last few seasons have fans pondering a potential return to end his career. While that’s still a long shot, Durant has been able to reflect on his time in Oklahoma City more and more recently.

“I didn’t realize until I got older, guys that are in their thirties now are like we grew up watching you dudes in your twenties,” Durant said. “A lot of young people gravitated towards that team cause they saw we were all young. We all came consecutive years, me , Russ, James, Serge and then we just kept building from there. That probably is the most fun I had in the league.”

Ironically enough, the new-look Thunder team could see Durant’s Suns in the playoffs. Phoenix is currently the No. 7 seed with a chance to move up, and Oklahoma City is the No. 3 seed with room to move around, too. And what a full circle moment that would be for both the franchise and Durant.

---

Want to join the discussion?Like Inside the Thunder on Facebookand follow us on Twitterto stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can alsomeet the teambehind the coverage.