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Who Do The Thunders Have To Replace Kevin Durant?


This is not the best time to be a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s never easy watching the face of your franchise leave on his own accord. You feel betrayed. You cheered for him. You bought jerseys and tee-shirts with his name on them, and you know he got a piece of the sale. Now he’s going to come into your arena and try to beat your team, and most likely he will succeed.

But it’s time to move on. Time to root for the new guys. Maybe one day one of them will be as good as Durant and get your team one step further. Don’t take it personally. After all, you don’t necessarily root for the player, you root for the uniform and whoever is wearing it now. If the Thunder had felt it was in their best interest to trade K, D. you may have been upset for a while, but you’d still root like heck for him to lose whenever he played the Thunder.
So who are these new guys?

There is Victor Oladipo, acquired on draft day from the Orlando Magic. Magic fans are not necessarily happy to see him go either. He’s pretty good. He was the second pick in the draft coming out of the University of Indiana. Guess who else went #2? OK, he may not be K. D. but he is still good and can be even better.  Over his first three years, he has averaged 16 points per game. He shoots around 34% from three, not bad, could still get better though.

Could he improve those numbers now that he is on a better team and has a star like Russell Westbrook playing alongside of him? That sounds very plausible. Imagine if he picks it up a bit and averaged 20 per game and shoots 40% from the arc. That could make up for a good chunk of the points Durant takes with him to Golden State.

There is also Ersan Ilyasova, also acquired in the same trade that sent Serge Ibaka to Orlando. He shoots 37% from three and averages 10 points per game in his career. That’s not a bad guy to have come in off the bench.

Perhaps the one the Thunder should be most excited to get is Domantas Sabonis. He was another first round pick by the Magic at #11. Many scouts believe he will be a very good NBA player. His father, Arvydas, was one of the all time great centers and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. If his son is anywhere near as good as the old man, Thunder tickets are going to skyrocket with the demand fans will have.


So while none of these guys are Kevin Durant (yet), together, along with the players coming back from last season such as Westbrook, Enes Kantner, Steven Adams and others, they may not crash and burn like the Cleveland Cavaliers did after Lebron James left. So it may not be all that bad for Thunder fans. With Westbrook, you still have an All Star starter and with Oladipo you have another potential All Star. It’s not out of the question to think about the playoffs next year, and once you’re on to the second season..who knows?

Contributed by: Joe Messineo

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