27-year old small forward Kevin Durant has broken the hearts of Oklahoma City Thunder fans everywhere, as he has signed a 2-year, $54.3 million dollar deal with the Golden State Warriors. The second year is a player option. Durant played in 72 games (all starts) for the Thunder last year and he averaged 35.8 minutes, 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.2 blocked shots per game. He also played in 18 games (all starts) in the playoffs last year in which he averaged 40.3 minutes, 28.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.0 blocked shot per game.
Durant played in 641 games (all starts) for the Thunder/Supersonics and he averaged 37.8 minutes, 27.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. He also played in 91 games (all starts) in the playoffs for them in which he averaged 41.9 minutes, 28.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per game.
Durant finishes up his career with the Thunder/Sonics’ as the all-time leader in three point shots made with 1,143 of them. He is also #5 in games played (641), #2 in defensive rebounds (4,004), #4 in total rebounds (4,518), #7 in assists (2,363), #8 in steals (774), #4 in blocked shots (639) and #2 in points scored (17,566) in franchise history.
This is a huge blow to the Oklahoma City Thunder. But, it also presents an opportunity for Russell Westbrook to make a serious run at the NBA MVP Award in 2016-17 for the Thunder, unless they raise a white flag and deal him.