Royce Young, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Preparing for life without Kevin Durant

Scattered last year along the three interstates that surround downtown Oklahoma City were billboards featuring different duos of Thunder players. Reggie Jackson with Serge Ibaka. Russell Westbrook with Thabo Sefolosha. Kevin Durant with Nick Collison. Never, though, would you see one with Westbrook and Durant, the faces of the franchise, together. And you definitely wouldn’t see Durant, the soon-to-be league MVP, by himself.

On the surface it seems like innocuous, inclusive marketing. But it was all very intentional and very purposeful. The moment the franchise loaded the trucks and relocated from Seattle to Oklahoma City, sporting a new name and new colors, there was a plan in place for when Durant left -- whether it happens in 2016 or 2026 or 2036.

Operating in such a small market, the Oklahoma City Thunder organization has a vision to remain an entity unto itself. The team still sells its electric superstars to keep the ticket booths busy, but there has been a clear effort to keep the city aware that the Thunder aren’t just Kevin Durant’s team. They’re Oklahoma City’s team.

The reasoning is simple: players come and go, but the franchise is forever. Spend years presenting the team as the Oklahoma City Durants and you’re left without any identity when he retires, or, gasp (!), leaves. And in a place like Oklahoma City, hardly the glitziest or most glamorous NBA destination, it’s a sound and necessary strategy.

In just six seasons, the Thunder have etched themselves into the fabric of the city and state. One of the main motivations for the city approving tax after tax to entice an NBA team to relocate here was so when you Googled “Oklahoma City” the browser would autofill with something other than “bombing.” In less than a decade, the franchise has not only overcome the SEO robots, but it's also loosened the stranglehold the state’s two biggest colleges have had the past century. Durant, Westbrook and the Thunder draw equal amounts of attention and adoration as any Heisman Trophy winner or legendary college football coach. Which, around here, was once unthinkable.

But although the franchise is certainly enjoying the spoils of Durant’s rise on the court, it’s created a potential problem off of it: He’s become so popular that he has outgrown even the Thunder’s best efforts to redirect focus toward the organization.

Durant is reaching Peyton Manning-level commercial exposure. Jay Z is (sort of) his agent. He was honored with the league’s highest individual award last season and pulled in the second most All-Star fan votes. He had his own movie, is on the cover of basketball’s biggest video game and has an HBO reality special coming this fall. At this point, he may be worth more than the franchise itself -- Clay Bennett and his ownership group purchased the SuperSonics in 2006 for $350 million; Durant signed a 10-year deal with Nike in September that will pay him upward of $300 million.

Given how identifiable Durant has become with the Thunder, it’s hard not to wonder what would happen to the franchise if he did indeed leave. The intricate plan of general manager Sam Presti, the bond with the Oklahoma City community, the endless sellouts and profit margins -- does any of that stuff continue without No. 35? Heck, even the team’s name and logo seem decent because of Durant and how cool he is. What would the Thunder be without the guy who, for all intents and purposes, is the Thunder?

For six to eight weeks, they’re going to find out. A “Jones fracture” in Durant’s right foot will sideline the Thunder star for at least the first month of the season. The injury marks the first time Durant will miss double-digit games in his seven seasons in the league, giving Oklahoma City its first look at life without KD.

The Thunder, of course, have options to fill the void. While no player can recreate what they’ll lose from Durant, the succession plan in OKC is a well-established and important one to the team's long-view approach. Instead of making big splashes in free agency, Presti has put his faith in drafting and development, sometimes to the chagrin of fans. While that has meant missing out on the likes of Pau Gasol, despite Durant’s best efforts, it has allowed the small-market franchise to prepare in advance for the potential departures of its own players. Sefolosha, a long-time starter, signed in Atlanta this offseason, but the Thunder drafted a similar player in Andre Roberson in 2013. Mitch McGary was drafted in this year’s first round as a potential replacement for Collison, who is 33 and in the final year of his contract.

But replacing an MVP in his prime for good simply can’t be done. And while the pending free agency of their superstar in 2016 is already exhausting, recent comments -- both by Durant and others -- have made the possibility of him bolting to a franchise other than the one that drafted him No. 2 overall in 2007 a very real one.

A summer of speculation has split the fan base into those in denial that Durant would ever actually leave and one beset with crippling fear that it might happen. Presti, on the other hand, said this past summer that he’s “looking forward” to the star’s free agency. He sees it as an opportunity to lock up a foundational player long-term.

“We know it’s there, and we are looking forward to it -- the opportunity to re-sign a legacy player -- especially when you consider where our team could be at that point, with two more years of experience and cohesion and taking that into account,” Presti told USA Today. “We have to honor the season in front of us, because we have a tremendous opportunity to win right now and continue to build the tradition of the Thunder. We are fortunate to be in this position, and we want to capture and respect this moment. We have to put that anticipation in its place for now and not allow ourselves to get distracted from the present, regardless of what the future could look like for Kevin and the organization he has built with us, brick by brick.”

Presti’s perspective is admirable, and given Durant’s history -- specifically his history of success -- with the team, it seems as though the Thunder will be able to make the best case to him. But the shadow cast by that decision will only grow larger as we get closer to 2016. And any injury is a piercing reminder of just how fragile title windows can be.

But it's more than the wins and losses. Durant's hasn't only evolved into a brand maybe bigger than the Thunder itself, but he’s essentially become Oklahoma’s global ambassador. He's been in the community about as much as he’s been on the court, ready to step up in the state’s weakest moments. He's been the face of change, turning a place known for tragedy and turning it into something of a burgeoning destination of young business types.

The fan base has had it pretty good in the franchise’s short tenure in Oklahoma City. The Thunder have made the playoffs five times in their six seasons of existence, and they’ve advanced past the first round in four of those postseason appearances. The one season of bad basketball Oklahoma City did watch came in the Thunder’s inaugural season, when simply having a team was more than enough.

What would happen if Durant did leave and the franchise was forced to endure several more like it?

The Thunder have been preparing for that possibility since the beginning.

Royce Young covers the Thunder for ESPN.com. Follow him, @royceyoung.

^ Back to Top ^