How does Kevin Durant feel about OKC Thunder fans still booing him? Here's what he said

Kevin Durant walked onto the floor of the Paycom Center on Friday with a hoodie over his head.

But it didn’t keep anyone from recognizing him. It didn’t provide cover from the boos that rained down on him either as his name got introduced for Phoenix prior to a 128-103 loss to his former team, the OKC Thunder.

It’s nothing new for Durant, who’s used to having a cloud loom over his head. The star forward was once royalty in OKC. He was an MVP. A four-time scoring champion. The owner of a downtown restaurant named KD’s.

But when Durant infamously left OKC in 2016 to form a super team with Golden State, he became the most hated man in basketball. He was labeled a snake. He was called a cupcake. His restaurant is now a Charleston’s.

The love was gone. And it still hasn’t fully returned eight years later.

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“It’s hard not to hear how people react when your name is called,” Durant said. “It’s been eight years. But I understand the dynamics of all this, what being a fan means and what I meant to this city.”

OKC fans boo Durant the loudest when his name gets introduced in the starting lineup, but their wrath doesn’t stop once the ball tips off. 

Each time he probes the Thunder's defense, he re-opens an eight-year-old wound.

Durant resented OKC for the first few years following his departure as a result. He hated the way he felt when he walked through the tunnels of the Paycom Center. He hated the cold shoulder he got from everyone down to the equipment managers. 

The house he helped build wasn't home anymore.

"Such a venomous, toxic feeling when I walked into (OKC's) arena," Durant told The Wall Street Journal in 2019. "And just the organization, the trainers and equipment managers, those dudes is pissed off at me? Ain't talking to me? I'm like, 'Yo, this is where we going with this?' Because I left a team and went to play with another team?

"I eventually wanted to come back to that city and be part of that community and organization, but I don’t trust nobody there."

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OKC’s feelings toward Durant haven’t changed much, but Durant likes to think that he has.

He knows the pain he inflicted upon the city. He also knows no number of arguments with fans on social media will change their opinion of him.

That lesson took a while for him to learn.

“I just let the fans react how they want to react,” Durant said. “This is their experience. Before, I guess I tried to tell them how to act toward me. And they tried to tell me how to act, vice versa. ... It’s not on me to tell them how to feel."

Durant doesn’t show many emotions when he talks to the media.

Still, a smile slipped through the cracks after the game Friday when he reminisced about his time with the Thunder.

Nowadays, the 35-year-old vet is a two-time champion and a two-time Finals MVPs. But Durant was just a scrawny, 19-year-old sophomore when the franchise moved from Seattle to OKC in 2008. 

He and the city grew together. Durant became a superstar while OKC became Loud City, a home for one of the most passionate fan bases in the NBA.

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OKC hasn’t stopped growing both as a city and a franchise since Durant’s departure. The Thunder (51-22) is second in the West, and it got approval in December to build a new downtown stadium.

“Good for them,” Durant said of OKC's growth. “It’s been a long road since 2008 when we came here. To see them continue to keep growing, building this city and putting a great product on the floor, it’s good for them.”

OKC is progressing rapidly, although the same can't be said for its fans' relationship with Durant.

That process is painfully slow. But Durant still signs sneakers and jerseys before the game for those who show love whenever he returns to OKC. Once the ball tips off, he still plays like one of the best to ever lace them up.

Durant then puts his hoodie back over his head once the game is over, waiting for the storm to pass.

“This is my experience in the NBA,” Durant said. “I’ll conduct myself the way I see, and I’ve got to give the fans that same type of leeway to just react how they want to react. ... I appreciate people that just come in and support the game of basketball.”

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