Kevin Durant wants his jersey retired by the Oklahoma City Thunder despite his messy exit from the organization. He may have received some encouragement on that front Friday.
The Thunder hosted a number of former players Friday for what the organization called Thunder Legacy Network Weekend. The goal was to welcome back and reminisce with former members of the organization, and the Thunder plan to make it an annual event.
As part of the festivities, Thunder GM Sam Presti addressed the Thunder alumni in a speech that certainly sounded like it could be directed to Durant as well.
❝This is a place where you can come back to, you'll be appreciated, you'll be respected. No matter if you played here for one year, or ten, or finish your entire career here.❞#ThunderLegacy pic.twitter.com/xUVKKVRZHj
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 2, 2022
“I really want to stress to every single guy that’s here that if you have a chance to speak to other former players that you played with while you were here, this is a place where you can come back to, you’ll be appreciated, you’ll be respected,” Presti said in a video posted to the team’s Twitter account. “No matter if you played here for one year, or ten, or finish your entire career here. It doesn’t really matter.”
Maybe this wasn’t said specifically with Durant in mind, as he obviously was not in attendance Friday. However, it can certainly be viewed as something of an invitation for Durant to make amends with the organization.
Durant recently made his case for Oklahoma City to retire his jersey, a notion that may still be unpopular to a lot of the team’s fans. Perhaps that changes in the years to come, but one would expect the organization will at least want to keep the door open.
Photo: Oct 11, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant (7) in action against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
