SAN FRANCISCO – The image of Kevin Durant’s first look at the future home of the Warriors before Chase Center ever opened will forever live on infamy.
The hard hat. The safety goggles. The bright yellow construction vest. The Nike socks hiked up nearly to his knees, and his black boots with the tongue flapping around.
KD checking out his potential new home next season. pic.twitter.com/0GjcsGoJd1
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 9, 2018
Before what wound up being Durant’s third and final season with the Warriors, the franchise’s recruitment pitch to make him wear a Golden State jersey the rest of his NBA career included that now infamous tour of Chase Center. The images can’t go away, just like the reality that Durant has played at Chase Center five times but never as a Warrior.
Sunday night’s 2025 NBA All-Star Game at Chase Center was the closest Durant has ever been to playing on the Warriors’ home court as a member of his former team, again sharing the floor with Steph Curry, only this time for Shaq’s OGs in the event’s revamped format.
When Durant was introduced Saturday at Oakland Arena for media day, one player ahead of Curry, he was greeted by a massive ovation that brought a huge grin across his face. No surprise for someone who went to three consecutive NBA Finals and won two championships and two Finals MVPs in his three years representing the Bay Area.
Kevin Durant gets a warm welcome from the Bay as he takes the floor in Oakland again for All-Star Practice pic.twitter.com/ThTPJN761h
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) February 15, 2025
Golden State Warriors
The cheers only continued the next day in San Francisco.
Whatever jersey he’s wearing, Durant never questioned the region’s continued love for him and wasn’t shocked one bit by the reception he received throughout the weekend.
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“I always feel the love from the fans in the Bay Area,” Durant said Sunday night after his team secured the All-Star Game win. “I never thought for a second I ain’t get no love here. I heard people saying I might not feel this much love and I didn’t know it was this much love, but everywhere I go all around the world and the country there’s Warriors fans and they always show me love. Of course I heard it.
“Especially Oracle, that’s my home. A lot of great memories in the Bay Area. I got a tight relationship with fans and myself.”
Durant still can be seen around Chase Center. Pictures of him celebrating his two titles are impossible to miss. Even on the practice court, above a picture of a dribbling Klay Thompson and directly next to a picture of Draymond Green pushing the ball down the floor, hangs a picture of Durant rising for a 3-pointer over JR Smith in the final minute of the Finals.
His three seasons wearing Golden State across the front of his jersey never can be forgotten. Imagining him doing so again is a bigger pipedream than his declaration on the Fourth of July in 2016.
As seen over the summer in the Olympics, Durant’s chemistry as Curry’s teammate hasn’t missed a beat all these years later.
“It’s just so easy to play with Steph,” Durant said. “He doesn’t demand the ball, he doesn’t have a demanding personality, he just plays in the flow of the game. Those are the type of players that are easy to play with.”
During Durant’s Warriors tenure and in the time that has passed, he and Curry never had any conflicts. The same, of course, can’t be said for Durant and Green.
However, Durant knows the basketball genius that Green is and believes there’s a way for that still to shine once his playing days are done -- and he’s not talking about being on TV.
“I think Draymond would be an incredible head coach,” Durant said. “I think he’d be a better head coach than he would be a TV analyst, and he’s pretty good at that. I just think he loves being on the floor, he loves teaching, he loves that competitive nature of competing on the court, and I think if he would go into TV he would just be clawing and itching to be back on the floor.
“Yeah, I think he’d be a great coach.”
The night before the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline, the Warriors made a franchise-changing move in acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. Reportedly, their bigger desire was to reunite with Durant, a scenario he allegedly was vehemently against.
As Durant walked off the podium, he was asked if he was ever approached about that opportunity being a reality. One word: “Nah.”
The love never will be lost between Durant and the Bay Area, as seen, heard and felt all weekend long. They say if you love something, let it go. That doesn’t mean the what-ifs aren't warranted, tugging at the heartstrings of Warriors fans until Durant laces his sneakers one final time, whenever that does come and in whatever jersey he’s then wearing.
