Changing of the Guards

Flashback to the Western Conference finals with Oklahoma City up 3-1 over the then-defending champion Golden State Warriors. The Thunder were in need of one win over a team they seemed to have figured out. Kevin Durant was giving the Warriors a matchup problem, OKC was able to get the most out of the role players and Russell Westbrook was making the two-time league MVP Step Curry look like he had never been asked to defend an opposing player.

At the time, I was fully convinced KD was going to return to OKC and that Russ would follow. Led by a monumental collapse by KD, the Thunder went on to lose the next three games in competitive fashion. Golden State went on to lose their own momentum and lost in seven games to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Despite the three-game losing streak to end the postseason, it seemed inevitable that KD was coming back to the only professional team he had ever played for. Fittingly yet hauntingly for OKC, KD took his talents to Oakland on Independence Day to join a team that had already proven beyond any doubt they could beat any team in the NBA with or without a player of KD’s abilities added to the roster. OKC, including myself, was shocked.

The fallout from the decision hasn’t subsided much given the constant chatter about what drove KD to turn into Sha-D or Gree-D. But Russ brought the city back together by simply adding one additional year and lots of dollars to a contract. And he took his lone shot at KD’s decision by focusing on loyalty as his explanation as to why he wanted to extend his contract to an additional season with a player option for a third year.

The Thunder will not be as good as this past year’s team. Losing a top five player in the world does not improve a team. When the Miami Heat lost LeBron James two years ago, they lost more than a couple of steps that first season. But with Russ on board along with the Orlando trio (Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and Domantas Sabonis) and a couple of new additions via Europe (Alex Abrines) and the draft (Daniel Hamilton), the Thunder will have an opening day roster that will compete each and every night. Will they make it to the Western Conference finals again? Lesser teams have, but a lot would have to fall in place to even come close.

Fans of the Thunder are going to be more realistic about their expectations this season. Russ may actually have an MVP season and the Thunder could still do no better than fourth or fifth in the Western Conference. But as far as we know, there are 15 players on the OKC roster who want to be here, and that is at least the makings of a better team than we had in 2015-16. And who isn’t excited to have a whole new reason to root against Golden State in their quest for perfection?