Rising star: Kevin Durant’s rookie year through the eyes of Seattle’s basketball figures
Every chance he gets, Kevin Durant talks glowingly about Seattle. He said recently that he wants to be part of the franchise in the future. (And Seattle’s mayor hinted that the team could be back soon.) Many in the city would welcome Durant back with open arms. Maybe the team would even retire his jersey, even though he only played for it for a single season in 2007-08.
Below, we talked with a number of Seattle basketball figures to get their take on Durant’s rookie year, from the promise of his early career to the devastation from his departure months later:
Percy Allen, former SuperSonics beat writer for The Seattle Times: On draft night, they traded away Ray Allen and they bring in the No. 2 pick – this young, fresh-faced, 19-year-old kid. You trade Allen, who’s this polished, poised veteran face of the franchise, and with that trade, you also bring in Jeff Green. You shifted right there and put it all on Kevin’s slim shoulders.
At that time he was represented by Aaron Goodwin. They had some experience with that. They repped LeBron James as a rookie. They knew how to navigate those waters with a young star.
Damien Wilkins, former Sonics and Thunder teammate: I remember him being extremely aggressive offensively. I remember always saying to myself when I was watching practice just how great he was going to be. He was so confident, he was so skilled. He was hardworking. The work matched the skill. So, it was no surprise that he turned out to be who he is today. He’s one of my favorite teammates, one of my favorite guys to watch playing basketball.
Spencer Haywood, NBA Hall of Famer and former Sonic: The Sonics brought me in to be with Durant when he was drafted when he was introduced in Seattle. They brought me in and I was with him onstage and the whole deal. Talking to him, like, “Welcome to Seattle and welcome to the best franchise in the NBA.” I said, “Man, you’re going to love this city. I love this place.”
Percy Allen: Kevin came in so young. His mom Wanda came with him. His dad was right there, too. His mom was incredible. His support system was incredible. He had his family around him almost all the time. He had a high school friend around him, too. So, he shifted his Maryland support base to Seattle and they all came out with him. I think he needed that.
Detlef Schrempf, Sonics legend: Seattle had a new hope that the Sonics were going to be good again once KD was drafted. Then obviously with Russell and Harden being drafted next you wonder what could have been. Maybe KD would still be playing for the Sonics?
Damien Wilkins: During that 07-08 year we had a lot of support. I think people knew that we were leaving. It was already out there that we were leaving. But I never thought we didn’t have support. I never felt unsupported in Seattle – from the time I got there until the time we left.
Kevin Calabro, longtime SuperSonics play-by-play broadcaster: We were all in a lifeboat together. We didn’t know what was going to happen. … I think 50 percent of the group thought we were honestly moving to Oklahoma City and 50 percent thought that at the last minute something would be done to keep us in Seattle. That always held over our head.
But obviously our focus was on Kevin Durant and the way he was playing and his ability to score the ball. With his thin frame, we were all kind of wondering if he was going to be able to withstand the [slogs] of the NBA. And, boy, was he terrific.
Kenny Mayne, longtime ESPN personality and Seattle-area native: I think what I was struck by in watching him, whether on TV or in person, he kind of reminded me of Randall Cunningham, because I played football with Cunningham – Randall was a freshman when I was a senior [at UNLV]. My observation was [Kevin] was all arms and legs and still growing into himself. And this isn’t a criticism – you could just tell, like, oh my God, wait until he actually gets the whole thing together, which won’t be long. He showed a bunch of good things right away.
Kevin Calabro: He’d always be at the ball game way ahead of time warming up. Practices – he was real focused. He and Jeff Green. They just had a great work ethic when they came on board. The highlight was a game-winner that Durant hit in overtime in Atlanta.
That was phenomenal. With Dominique [Wilkins] sitting there and Gerald Wilkins sitting courtside. His son and Dominique’s nephew [Damien Wilkins] were on our ballclub. He had a nice game too that night. But that was the highlight.
Damien Wilkins: We played the Hawks in Atlanta. And I’m from Atlanta so it was my hometown game and I had my career high that night of 41. And I remember Wally Szczerbiak – we had to run a play. I think the score was tied or we were down one or two maybe at the end of the game. There was maybe two seconds left, three seconds left. And we had to run a play to inbound the ball to win the game.
Szczerbiak is taking the ball out at the time and I’m trying to get open to get the ball. He throws it to Kevin Durant and when he shot it, the first thing I said to myself was, “That better go in because I got 41. That better be game!” That was one of my favorite moments not just because it was a great game for me personally but just the confidence in taking that shot and the ease with which he did it.
Spencer Haywood: I watched the whole [2007-08] season. … I was like, “Woah man, we got Kevin Durant up here, this is so beautiful!” Next thing they were leaving. And guess who I saw at the All-Star game [that season]. Clay Bennett. God! No disrespect to him but, you know, he did what he needed to do to get Kevin to Oklahoma City. We allowed him to take it. Now, I have a little withdrawal when I drink Starbucks.
Dawn Trudeau, co-owner of the Seattle Storm: I remember it being this sort of dread… The handwriting was on the wall. I was worried about losing the Storm, which is what caused us to buy the team. [But] I remember how impressive [Kevin] was as a young athlete. As a rookie, as skilled as he was, he was pretty phenomenal. Like everybody, I was thinking, “Oh wow we just lost a generational talent” when they moved. … It just felt sad. Back then there weren’t many people at the games. It just felt like you could see it slipping away.
Kevin Calabro: Durant and Green were to a great extent off-limits to media. It was the darndest thing. If you wanted to promote the product you would have been pushing these guys. But they were very closed ranks about that. We all deferred to Sam Presti on that and we just assumed it was Sam’s way. And it might be. If you go to Oklahoma City today it’s structured the same way. It’s very tight-lipped.
Hell, I worked for the franchise and my thought was that if we’re going to promote this team, if we’re going to try to make this team stick and keep it in Seattle, if you want to hold out any hope for the city working with you on this, then you damn well better promote this thing. Then when they started moving players, you got the signals they wanted this thing to fail.
Kenny Mayne: I naively kept thinking one of the rich Seattle people would save the day. It’s almost like I was too dumb to realize they were positioning to get the hell out. The shame of it all is to have a guy like Kevin and just imagine him spending 20 years in Seattle.
Damien Wilkins: The year that we left, people were upset! They can’t be blamed for that – their team was leaving. It was almost like a gut punch to Sonics fans. I don’t think people understand the deep rich history that the Seattle Sonics have.
Percy Allen: He was thrown into the quagmire of this team leaving the city and he didn’t know anything about any of that. He had no history of that. He grew up on the other side of the country. I don’t know how much he knew about the Sonics before he was drafted. I think Kevin now is a basketball historian. I just think back then, he was a kid who loved to hoop.
He didn’t know how much this city loved its team and was going through this soon-to-be court battle. And he’s right in the middle of all of it because he’s the prize jewel of the new ownership.
Damien Wilkins: He was at the end of his rookie year, so he didn’t know at the time about stuff like that. None of us did because none of us had been in any transition like that where a team would pack up and move to another city. I don’t think he had any reservations about it, I think it was just his introduction to what NBA basketball and the business side of it is all about. He handled it well, got to OKC and became a bigger star. That team became his pretty quickly.
Kevin Calabro: By all indications, the city was not doing well in the trial [to keep the team in Seattle]. But I always said you could have appealed the thing, kept the team in town, and got them embroiled in all kinds of legal maneuvers. Then I was told a few years later that was not going to be a factor because David Stern stepped in and said if you litigate, you’ll never stand a chance of getting another franchise. And here we are closing in on 20 years – it will probably be 20 years [before they come back].
Percy Allen: In hindsight, I think we see it now. The blueprint was clear. What Clay Bennet was trying to do. They weren’t putting a whole lot of money into the team. They weren’t going to invest major salaries. They didn’t surround this rookie with any high-priced vets.
It was a one-year plan. They just wanted to get through the year, get to the end of that lease, get to next summer, and force the city’s hand. They had another year left on the lease but they were thinking they could break it with a year left and come to some type of settlement and that’s exactly what happened.
They had 31 wins with guys who were trying to win [the year before]. And then they finished last with a team that was really young. Sometimes teams take a step back. But this was different. This was not a step back. This was a step in a new direction.
Kevin Calabro: Obviously, he had great years in Oklahoma City. They rolled into town and turned that city around. Everybody was on board and then they get in the Finals within three years with Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden. What an incredible group that was.
Dawn Trudeau: [If he came back to Seattle to play] I think he would be celebrated. I think he’s very well respected and he’s one of those athletes that it’s hard to think of anything negative about. He’s such a great basketball player and a great human being.
Kevin Calabro: He comes back [here] just about every summer. He’s part of Jamal Crawford’s summertime games. He’s always been a big participant in that. I guess he had a home in Mercer Island [as a rookie]. You could probably find a feature story that was written about it. He was kind of a big kid. He hung out with the neighborhood kids out there and they played games. They’d get together for Halloween and Christmas and so forth – just a larger-than-life kid.
His mother Wanda came out and I’m pretty sure she was with him most of the time. That was a big factor. She was at all the games. Family was pretty much part of it. Wanda was the force; Wanda was there all the time.
Spencer Haywood: Me and Durant are still talking about Seattle. We talked about it at the All-Star game [this year]. I can’t go any further – there’s some sneaky stuff going on that I can’t talk about because it’s private. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I see him in a Sonics uniform [again]. I was with his mother at the All-Star game – with him and his mother, everybody. I’m just saying.
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