Durant: Seattle NBA team something 'every player wants to see'
Kevin Durant has moved on to his third NBA home, nearly a decade removed from arriving at his first - but he hasn't forgotten his roots.
"I think about it all the time," Durant told SI's Chris Ballard, when asked how his life would've been different if the Seattle SuperSonics never moved to Oklahoma City.
"The fans, the community, the leaders here in Seattle, they all embraced the team and the players, so I can imagine growing up here."
The interview took place in Seattle, where last month Durant greeted giddy kids and their nostalgic parents at an outdoor court refurbished by his Kevin Durant Charity Foundation. According to Ballard, "all hell broke loose" when Durant arrived at Powell Barnett Park:
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.
"I was 19 when I started here, so growing up here would've definitely been amazing," Durant continued. "I'd have learned a lot and met a lot of great people and really been into this city, really called this city home. But hey, other things happened."
"Other things" meant being packed up and shipped to OKC by new majority owner Clay Bennett after Durant's rookie season. Just as Seattle had begun to fall in love with Durant - and vice versa - he was gone.
"But," he said, "I still feel really attached to this city."
Ballard then asked Durant the obvious question: Would he like to see the NBA return to Seattle?
"That's what every player wants to see," Durant answered.
"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."
The city came painfully close to bringing a team back in 2013, when a local ownership group led by Chris Hansen and current Clippers owner Steve Ballmer agreed to purchase the Sacramento Kings. The NBA Board of Governors rejected the sale and relocation plan, and the Kings were instead sold to a group (led by Vivek Ranadive) committed to keeping the team in Sacramento.