The Oklahoma City Thunder is a relatively young franchise compared to the rest of the teams in the NBA, but they’ve already had plenty of memorable moments in their 16-year run in OKC. They’ve only missed five playoffs throughout their existence, and that success can be attributed to the foundations built by the Baby Thunder.
The Baby Thunder is what NBA fans affectionately called the Thunder squad that was headlined by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden. The fact that the three future Hall of Famers were the core of their unlikely run to the 2012 NBA Finals is the stuff of legend among OKC fans.
Many would think that Durant doesn’t have plenty of positive thoughts about the team after leaving them in 2016, especially with the way he made his announcement. However, fans would be pleasantly surprised that the Slim Reaper has nothing but good things to say about his Thunder tenure.
Kevin Durant sees playing days with the Oklahoma City Thunder as his favorite NBA era
Kevin Durant made an appearance on Boardroom’s Aux Money and discussed various topics. What caught many people’s attention was his answer when he was asked about which era of his NBA career he enjoyed playing in the most.
He immediately answered OKC, per Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek:
“It has to be the OKC time period because it was like the entry point into all of this,” he said. “That’s like the foundation of everything. We were young and we were playing against dynasties. We were competing against the Lakers with Kobe when they won it back-to-back, Dallas when they won a championship, Miami with LeBron and D-Wade. That was the start of it all.”
It was an exciting time for Oklahoma City Thunder fans. Kevin Durant was the first option who can score on all three levels; Russell Westbrook brought energy and playmaking with his explosive cuts to the basket; James Harden took on a Manu Ginobili-type role as he facilitated and scored with ease.
Everyone believed that the Thunder were bound to win their first NBA title, but the Thunder decided to ship off Harden to the Houston Rockets to build around Durant and Westbrook. While they made multiple deep playoff runs, they never reached the Finals again.
The current Baby Thunder might win it all this time
However, this time might be different. The current iteration of the Baby Thunder has been running rampant in the league this season, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being surrounded by talented young pieces.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Thunder finally win their first title in OKC, but it would also serve as a bittersweet reminder to the fans of the Baby Thunder era of what could have been.
