Durant's injury the latest setback for a Thunder team running out of time
What seemed an inevitability a week ago became reality Friday, as the Oklahoma City Thunder announced that Kevin Durant would be shut down for the remainder of the season, requiring a bone graft in his surgically repaired right foot.
A transcendent talent on a perennially contending team being lost for the season is always jarring. A transcendent talent of Durant's magnitude - and reigning MVP - headed for a third foot procedure in six months is downright scary.
For the Thunder, it's the third consecutive season of hope that's been lost - or at least derailed - to injury, following Russell Westbrook's postseason knee injury in 2013 and Serge Ibaka's brief absence to open last year's Western Conference final.
The three years since the Thunder's trip to The Finals in 2012 have been a long, cautionary tale of why you can't rely on a so called can't-miss dynasty - because there's no such thing.
Ultimate success, particularly in a perennial sense, is a fickle beast, and with contracts getting shorter and CBA uncertainty once again on the horizon, that's never been truer.
Less than three years ago, as Oklahoma City roared back from a 2-0 deficit in the West Final to slay the San Antonio Spurs, it looked like a once in a generation collection of drafted, homegrown talent was only on the cusp of prolonged, undeterrable greatness.
One tax-related (and horribly ill-advised) James Harden trade, multiple devastating injuries and three years later, the Thunder have yet to reclaim their Western Conference crown.
Now their hobbled face of the franchise is a year away from unrestricted free agency in what promises to be the most ludicrous free-agent market in NBA history - Perhaps the final nail in a coffin of Oklahoma City hopes and dreams that seems to be lowered further into the dirt with each passing year.
Virtually the entire Thunder roster - still a capable contender when healthy - is under contract for next season, although Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler are set for restricted free agency. The team has been due for a coaching upgrade for years, but if General Manager Sam Presti has held onto Scott Brooks for this long, it seems unlikely that he'll cut bait with him now that he's got a built-in excuse (KD's injury) to keep him.
Outside of questions regarding Kanter and Singler, the Thunder could return nearly the exact same team seven months from now. And despite Brooks' deficiencies, they should once again enter October with legitimate championship aspirations, assuming good fortune and health.
But expecting good fortune and health for the Thunder now seems a fool's errand, as does expecting Durant to eschew opportunities in more desirable markets for an OKC team that has yet to win.
The Thunder can't be counted out yet, and as their fortune itself has taught us in recent seasons, nothing can be assumed from year to year.
But as the dust settles on the latest deflating development for OKC, it's looking more and more likely that the 2012 rally over the Spurs may have been the peak, not the cusp.