Since his 2016 departure, Kevin Durant’s jersey retirement has been a hot-button issue with the Oklahoma City Thunder and their fans. Every year, you’re guaranteed a handful of online discourses that surround whether or not it should happen in the future.
On one hand, Durant is one of the greatest players the NBA has ever seen. He spent nine seasons on the Thunder as a perennial All-NBA player and one-time MVP winner. He headlined their first championship window in the 2010s, which featured high-level winning, an NBA Finals trip and four Western Conference Finals appearances.
While Durant failed to bring home a Larry O’Brien trophy, that level of success warrants celebrations. If you just looked at his resume and what he accomplished on the Thunder, it should be a no-brainer. Then there’s the fan and emotional aspect of things. An immeasurable variable that holds weight.
Durant’s departure was as ugly as it gets. He left the Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, the team they famously blew a 3-1 series lead to in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. Leaving OKC for them a month later was the type of move that completely flipped his public perception.
On his way to two championships, Durant burned bridges to the Thunder. He’s criticized how the organization handled the roster construction around him. He’s also bad-talked OKC fans. Years of those comments have worn down any goodwill that most Thunder fans have had since his exit.
If you ask any Thunder fan about his No. 35 being eventually retired, prepare to be shut down. They will say no and make a playful comment that PJ Dozier is the greatest No. 35 in franchise history. Durant, though, played it cool on the possibility.
After going on another Twitter rant, Durant trolled Thunder fans and downplayed their NBA championship. His latest comments about OKC stem from the NBA scheduling the 2025-26 Opening Night with the Houston Rockets in attendance for the Thunder’s ring ceremony. Of course, that means Durant will be across the court when they celebrate the NBA title he never managed to win in OKC.
Going back at it on Monday morning, Durant responded to an account that asked if he thinks the Thunder should retire his No. 35 jersey. He said what they most likely think. While fans would turn him down, it’s not their decision to make.
Durant wrote: “U don’t want me to answer this but what I will say, muse pages and Stan accounts don’t make none of these decisions..”
As badly as Thunder fans don’t want to admit, Durant is likely right. They can boo him as much as they want, but the franchise decision-makers themselves can’t do that. Even if they’re still hurt feelings over his departure, you can’t ignore that one of the 15 greatest players ever spent most of his career with your team.
While how the Thunder handle Durant’s jersey retirement may be up for debate — it likely needs to happen after Russell Westbrook’s and maybe even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s, to save face — the truth is, it should eventually happen. He was too good a player and would be franchise negligence not to retire his No. 35.
