Kevin Durant will enter the 2015-16 season with an expiring contract and just the third coach of his professional career.
The Oklahoma City Thunder fired head coach Scott Brooks on Wednesday, the only bench boss Durant has known at the NBA level other than P.J. Carlesimo. Brooks took over the job in the team's first season in Oklahoma City, Durant's sophomore year, and the two have spent the last seven seasons together.
The team's justification was not an injury-riddled 2014-15 season but a feeling that their long-term upside could be improved by making a change - and it's clear the franchise wants to play every card in its hand as it works to keep Durant past 2016. It's a risky, but probably necessary, move, one that Durant supported on Instagram:
The message reads as follows:
Today was tough for me. While I support our team's decision 100 percent and look forward to the upcoming season and the future in OKC, Scotty was my coach and a friend for the past 7 seasons. We accomplished a lot together, and those times will never be taken away from us. I grew as both a man and a ball player under his guidance and for that I will forever be grateful. I wish nothing but the best for him and his family who have also been such a big part of this city and organization. I know he will be very successful in wherever his next steps in life are.
So Durant is saying the right things about the move early, even if he has lost a friend in the process. He'll surely have a great deal of influence in the next hire, which could be former teammate Kevin Ollie, and the Thunder will be crossing their fingers that the fit is an immediately successful one.
