Upon his return to Oklahoma City for the first time since leaving for the Warriors, Kevin Durant and his business manager, Rich Kleiman, have hired a heightened armed security team to travel with the team sources have told ESPN’s Chris Haynes.
Triple the normal amount of security personnel has been procured to accompany Durant for what expects to be an emotionally charged evening at Chesapeake Energy Arena for both the player and the OKC fanbase. Kleiman will reportedly sit next to Durant’s mother Wanda during the game.
According to the report, Durant does not plan on staying in his hotel room until game time, and will venture out into the city during his brief visit.
Draymond Green posted a photo to Snapchat early Saturday morning of security on the team’s hotel floor.
Beefed up security even on the Warriors hotel floor via Draymond Green’s snapchat pic.twitter.com/nijKswnxvi
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 11, 2017
Trolling from the scorned Thunder fans has already begun. ESPN posted a picture to their Instagram Saturday morning of shirts with “Koward” printed on the front, with the “K” and “D” highlighted.
At this point it remains unclear if the scene will be as contentious as LeBron James’ return to Cleveland was after joining the Miami Heat in 2010. During that game, a fan threw a nine-volt battery at James that narrowly missed hitting him. Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale was a Heat assistant coach at the time, and told ESPN he doesn’t expect the OKC fans to behave as poorly.
“I remember coaching LeBron during a dead ball this close to each other and a battery flew between us,” Fizdale told ESPN. “A nine-volt, and hit the floor. It was crazy. I don’t think his situation is as volatile as that. And I think OKC fans, they’re upset about it, but they got like a college fan base. They’re just there to root their team on and really support their team. He’s going to get booed, of course, but I don’t think it will be as volatile.”
The always thoughtful Andre Iguodala was candid when discussing the situation on Saturday, arguing that fans’ emotional attachment to players causes them to forget that they are also people.
“For me, it’s just another game. I mean, if I’m supposed to die over basketball, I’m supposed to die,” Iguodala told ESPN. “So I guess it’s over with. But I’m not going to change my approach.”
“If we didn’t play basketball, they wouldn’t give a damn about who we were as people. No one would invest any time in us [and] who we are. But I guess we give them an outlet or an escape from their lives. They’re emotionally attached to us. But when we do things that aren’t in their best interest, there’s an action and a reaction. This is the case tomorrow. This is kind of the world we live in right now.”
Tip off is at 5:30 pm on ESPN.