Kevin Durant, like many NBA fans, is eager to see an NBA team located in Seattle. Besides fans, several players are also interested in the move happening, Durant told Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated:
“That’s what every player wants to see,” Durant said (as transcribed by Joe Wolfond of TheScore). “When you come around this community, it’s just an amazing feeling. Me, along with every other NBA player, wishes a team comes back here.”
Durant was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics back in 2007 and holds a heavy heart for the city. So when he showed up to an event in Seattle not too long ago, naturally, the city responded in a great way, as Chris Ballard describes.
This was the third Friday of September, just before the start of Warriors training camp. The plan called for Durant to arrive at Powell Barnett park in east Seattle at 1 PM, speak to the crowd, knock down an inaugural jumper on the refurbished court—the work of his Kevin Durant Charity Foundation—and engage in a shooting game with local kids. Lenny Wilkens was on hand, looking ageless. A DJ spun PG-rated dance tunes. A makeshift VIP tent provided shelter from a light sprinkle. And many, many boys and girls clustered, either with parents or, one assumed, having found creative reasons to avoid school.
Then Durant arrived and all hell broke loose. On the court, a local dignitary was in the middle of a speech, only to see it rendered instantly irrelevant. The kids and dad and moms swarmed Durant (especially, it should be noted, the dads), cell phones and Sharpies in the air. Durant gave a brief speech and hit the first shot. But there was no way he was getting enough air space for a shooting game.
Durant’s handlers aborted the rest of the program and encircled him as he posed for photos, signed autographs, and did some media hits, including this one. As Durant answered questions, scrunched onto a folding chair that made him look like a parent visiting an elementary school, a throng stood, held at bay, about ten feet behind him. Then Durant’s crew hurried him up some steps to a waiting car. In the stampede of teenagers that ensued, someone broke the branch off a tree. Such is the lure of Durant, especially in Seattle.
The SuperSonics were the last NBA team represented by Seattle, before eventually transforming into the Oklahoma City Thunder. The wishes of residents, city officials and others have been heard, with the league now actively discussing the possibility of expanding. They value Seattle as a market, but keep in mind, any movement of a potential expansion would come from the new CBA deal.
The NBA and NBPA are expected to finalize the new CBA within the coming weeks, which should be viewed as good news to all. Another key factor included in any expansion would be whether or not Seattle improves its current arena, something many around the league have been looking at.
Both Seattle and the NBA, players, coaches, fans included, hope to eventually see an NBA team move back to Seattle. The top existing question remains the same: Which franchise would ultimately be willing to relocate?
Perhaps answers will begin surfacing as time moves forward, but for now, the energetic Basketball loving city known as Seattle remains without a true present day identity in the NBA.
