Thunder Fans Are the Winners This Time

We’ve all seen the scene – a junior high kid and his friend run into the school bully and his friends and the two of them get beat up. Undeterred, the two kids scheme until they come up with a way to beat the bullies. And just when they reach the point where they have an opportunity to be superior to the bullies … the kid’s friend joins the bullies and beats up on the kid.

Movies don’t happen this way and life shouldn’t happen this way either. It would be shameful and go against everything we feel about how people – especially friends – should act. There is a right way to live life and there is the wrong way.

This movie scenario may sound familiar and that’s because it is. The two friends were Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The bullies were the way too arrogant Golden State Warriors and their lone title that was won in a year when each of their playoff opponents suffered a significant injury to the starting lineup either prior to or during their series with Golden State.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gone on the attack against KD and his cowardly way of approaching his career. He spouted off for years about how he was a leader and that he was going to settle for nothing less than bringing a championship to Oklahoma City. Considering he was playing with one of the best point guards in the NBA, it seemed inevitable that he would in fact do just that. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he joined the bullies and became a tag-along on the way to a possible title. He became the Derek Fisher or Robert Horry of a team that has already proven it doesn’t necessarily need KD to win the gold.

I wasn’t at the game this weekend when KD returned to OKC for his deserved medicine, nor did I watch it on TV. Fortunately, in this day and age, I didn’t need to do either of those for me to be able to learn about the reaction of fans and players to the game. Between media reports and social media posts, I got more than enough of how it went for KD. Sure, the Warriors won. It is what happens when you have four of the best five players on the court. The fact that they aren’t undefeated this season shows just how flawed they are – they are the favorites every single game and yet they underperform night after night.

Based on the social media reaction following KD’s announcement, I was convinced the fans would take the soft way out and pretend as if KD never did anything wrong. But he did. Sports is a competition and as fans, we don’t root FOR or encourage the opponents. KD made a decision to play for the opponent and it is our duty to applaud our team while also rooting against our opponent. It is how competition works. We can be good sports following the game but the contest itself is not the time to hold back and act as if it was fine that KD decided to be shady and greedy in joining the bullies.

So, kudos to those fans out there who booed KD, and who made creative signs or t-shirts showing their disdain for his selfish actions. He signed on to that life and he knew it was coming. And who knows, maybe Mr. Unreliable will show his true colors once again and disappoint the Warriors’ fans the same way he did the Thunder fans each and every postseason he was here. That’s the KD we all came to know.