It May Be Time Oklahoma Makes Peace With Kevin Durant

When OKC gained Oklahoma's first professional sports team, we were all abuzz with both hopes of success and an even deeper sense of "This is going to fail."

The Supersonics roster was extremely light on known talent, but as the team found their stride in Bricktown, future superstars were born within that adversity.

In the first few years, the team produced amazing results. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook developed a mini-dream team. The addition of James Harden the following year had the potential to make OKC unstoppable.

Unfortunately, as Cinderella stories are the rarest thing in basketball, as a young team with a first-time head coach, the Thunder seemed to always fall just short of a championship.

The franchise high at that point in time was the 2016 playoffs. The Thunder was up 3-1 over the Golden State in the playoff and somehow found a way to lose to them. The Warriors would go on to win The Finals that year.

Still, Oklahoma supported our Thunder. We loved our team and everyone on the roster (even though Harden took his fear beard to Houston by that point). The dynamic duo of Durant and Westbrook could do no wrong in OKC, but that sentiment wouldn't last.

In July, KD announced he was leaving OKC for Golden State.

In a wild turn of events, OKC almost instantly turned their collective backs on Durant. He was a traitor. He was leaving the team he helped carry so close to a championship for the team that bested him just weeks before.

Even his mom admitted it was a move that didn't make him look good at all. Not that he was the traitor everyone labeled him to be, that's the job in professional sports. You go where the money is, and if you're lucky enough, that money is with the most dominant team of that era.

In the fallout, Kevin Durant lost everything he had in OKC. His reputation. His restaurant. All of it, gone... and KD was pretty salty about his leaving too. His response wasn't much better than that of Oklahoma, but as time heals all wounds, it seems things have warmed back up in our collective separation.

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In a recent interview, they brought up the checkered past with OKC. Everyone that witnessed it agreed, it was a ballsy question to ask given it has been such a taboo subject even eight years later, but KD had some pretty gentle words and a fondness for our state capital. As if he grew up to realize he was actually part of something even bigger than his nearly seven-foot stature.

Perhaps it's time OKC makes peace with KD.

@bleacherreport KD speaks on how he, Russ and Harden helped the growth of OKC @Boardroom #kd #kevindurant #okc #okcthunder #russellwestbrook #jamesharden #nba ♬ original sound - bleacherreport

All the same, it's (apparently) still too soon to even mention Lincoln Riley anywhere in the state.