After Kevin Durant’s career as he’s always known it flashed before his eyes with a series of foot surgeries when he played just 27 games in 14-15, he returned healthy, had another All-NBA-caliber season and the Thunder were the closest they’ve been to returning to The Finals since 2012. 

After Oklahoma City’s most promising playoffs since 2012, Durant entered free agency for the first time in his career at the age of 27 coming off his five-year, $86 million extension he quickly and quietly signed in 2010. Durant announced his extension decision in what was then his typically unassuming, "I’m just here to ball" manner just hours before LeBron James’ scheduled televised free agency announcement. Unlike his superstar predecessors of the 2003 draft class like LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Durant did not request an opt-out clause after the fourth season of his extension that would have allowed him to become a free agent in 2015.

Here we are six years later with Durant the most highly coveted free agent since LeBron in 2010 and 2014, also rivaling the free agency of Kobe Bryant in 2004 when he strongly considered leaving the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 26.

We saw the Warriors coming for Durant for months, yet his decision to sign with them on a two-year, $54.3 million deal with a player option for Year 2 was still a genuinely shocking moment.

Durant has always been an amenable teammate and franchise player for the Thunder in ways that’s rare for most surefire future Hall of Famers. Durant hasn’t quite been beatific in the Tim Duncan way but he’s hardly been hands-on / passive aggressive in the style of LeBron or Kobe. Perhaps he shouldn’t have trusted the small-market Thunder when he signed that extension to give them a six-year window to deliver a title. The Thunder could have just as easily won a title in any season since 2011 and what they’ve built has been sustainable, but it only recently became an all-out financial endeavor, signaled by trades for the likes of Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters in 2015.

The optics of the James Harden trade was always worse than the roster Oklahoma City shaped as a result of it. Keeping Serge Ibaka over Harden was the right move and the lottery pick they acquired in the trade became Steven Adams, who was their most important player last season.

The Thunder were never going to spend the way Dan Gilbert has during both of LeBron’s tenures with the Cavaliers, not to speak of the way the Lakers and Knicks consistently have spent in the game’s biggest markets. Great teams get expensive quickly, even the role players, but Sam Presti wanted the Thunder to build a sustainable program without going broke continually propping it up as he learned from his time with the Spurs. That was a special core of stars with San Antonio who have routinely taken less money, making work-life trade-offs that are rare in any business. Oklahoma City’s lack of depth manifested itself in their blown fourth quarter leads in the regular season and even in the playoffs. 

One of the most efficient offensive players of all-time, Durant can score in every way imaginable. Durant is so implausibly skilled and graceful despite his length that he’s unguardable. Durant has had a True Shooting Percentage better than .600 in six of his nine seasons and every season since 11-12.

Always capable of being a brilliant passer and a high level defensive player, we finally saw glimpses of consistency of that part of his game this past season, especially in the playoffs. Durant has positional versatility with his ability to defend virtually any forward in the NBA and is always overlooked as a rebounder. The possibility of Draymond Green's personality, all-around game and defensive commitment infecting him is one of the most exciting aspects of this move.

Durant’s teams with the Thunder have always been exceptionally talented but flawed. They have felt like they’ve been in a neverending incubation period endlessly trying to figure out how to play best with each other. During the first four games of the Western Conference Finals, it finally became clear how good Durant and Russell Westbrook could be with the right role players, especially when they were given more freedom and responsibility. They went away from that as the series progressed.

As remarkably unprecedented of a player Durant has been, we still don’t know how great he could become within a more dynamic system, particularly playing unencumbered within an offense where he doesn’t have to create his own offense with such frequency. Durant had the most dynamic teammate on the planet in Westbrook but they rarely made each other better. They each took on an outsized role on offense, sweating out too many buckets, relying on their exceptional individual shotmaking.

There was a line of thought, counterintuitive at first, that Golden State’s odds of signing Durant improved by losing in The Finals. In beating the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals and then losing to the Cavaliers in The Finals, the Warriors could make the argument of how they needed Durant. If the Warriors won back-to-back titles and then signed Durant, he would either be piggybacking for the threepeat or compromising their chemistry if they lost. Durant’s debut with the Warriors will be all about him and not about last year’s team getting their rings with him off to the side. 

The Warriors improbably had a once in a generation shooter on a once in a lifetime contract in Stephen Curry, which made it somehow even possible for a team coming off two straight Finals appearances to be able to have enough cap space with an unprecedented revenue jump to sign Durant. Signing Durant with an existing team so young and talented that just won a record-breaking 73 regular season games is an NBA miracle.

The Warriors presented the best basketball argument for Durant to leave the Thunder; a completely invulnerable offense with plenty of defense still on the other end. Steve Kerr and Durant will have a mutual appreciation society working together. Durant’s legacy could now be playing within the best offense basketball has ever created. Durant could have possibly become a .700 True Shooting Percentage scorer within the Warriors’ offense as the Splash Cousin. 

Golden State will now let Harrison Barnes sign his offer sheet with the Mavericks and trade away Andrew Bogut, who both were key in their first title and didn’t give them quite enough in this year’s Finals.

If the core of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and now Durant stay healthy, and we know about Curry's ankle and Durant's foot, they could go on a title run into the next decade. With Iguodala during the early stages of this team, the Warriors’ Death Lineup becomes the Apocalypse Lineup. The Warriors' Death Lineup scored 142.0 points per 100 possessions while allowing only 95.0 over 172 minutes last season; now they replace Barnes with Durant.

Grade for Warriors: A

Durant has handled the past year of his free agency with remarkable grace. Durant didn’t let it become a distraction at any point for his teammates, nor did he lead on any of the parties involved. Durant was remarkably mature and composed following Oklahoma City’s painful loss in Game 7 to the Warriors. Durant never seemed overwhelmed by the weight of the moment and he outsmarted the media with both his comments and how his inner circle gave away nothing, down to the very end when he made his announcement. Durant even became more affable over the past year.

When Shaquille O’Neal left the Magic for the Lakers in 1996, it just happened and we heard about it later on SportsCenter or read it the next day in the newspaper. LeBron’s free agency in 2010 was entirely transformative for the NBA and surreal in every way and he delivered on the hype with four Finals and two titles, while Dwight Howard’s was a wretched, confusing circus that ended with an apathetic whimper when he left the Rockets three seasons later for a sub-max deal with Atlanta. Durant’s free agency felt monumental yet part of the NBA’s new business model. 

Durant will be able to sign a supermax next summer worth 35 percent of the projected $110 million cap assuming the Warriors are able to preserve enough cap space as they’re expected to.

Grade for Kevin Durant: A

The Sonics left Seattle for Oklahoma City after Durant’s rookie season and the economics for them to build a sustainable team around him would always be difficult, even with a new CBA that the league office tried to make more friendly towards small market franchises. This is a classic example of unintended consequences as the Thunder traded away Harden during the next offseason afraid of the punitive nature of the new cap, but the cap ultimately went up for 2016 when Durant became a free agent, giving almost the entire NBA the ability to sign him.

A lot of this was out of Oklahoma City's control but staying a season or two too long with Scott Brooks, not being able to develop a replacement for Harden and the economics of their market made losing Durant a distinct possibility.

With Durant gone and Westbrook a season away from free agency, they must immediately consider expediting their rebuild by trading him away unless they get an assurance he plans on stubbornly re-signing. Westbrook could average something like 34, 12 and 10 next season without Durant if he stays with the Thunder. 

The Thunder voted against lottery reform and the possibility of losing Durant and Westbrook was always the reason. Without the possibility of rebuilding via multiple lottery picks the way they did from 2007 until 2009, the Thunder could be in for a long period of losing.

The Thunder were a few minutes away from winning in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals and had their chances in Game 7; losing that 3-1 lead to the Warriors ultimately also lost them Durant. 

Grade for Thunder: D- 

On the other teams

With how Durant limited his meetings to a smaller group, leaving out the Wizards, Lakers, Rockets and Knicks, amongst others, even getting a sit-down should be considered a moral victory.

Spurs: The possibility of Durant never again being defended by Kawhi Leonard was certainly intriguing but the fit with the Spurs would have been awkward due to their positional overlap. LaMarcus Aldridge famously prefers playing the 4 but their lineup with him at the 5, Durant at the 4 and Leonard at the 3 would have been one of the greatest frontcourt combinations we have ever seen.

Durant and Leonard taking turns on isolations and spotting up at more than 40 percent on three-pointers on one end and taking turns defending the likes of LeBron and Draymond on the other would have been remarkable. 

The proximity to Austin and anonymity of San Antonio also seemed to appeal to Durant, but the longer-term uncertainty at point guard with Tony Parker and even how much longer Gregg Popovich will stay on as head coach made the always steady Spurs more of an unknown.

Clippers: Once the Clippers decided to bring Blake Griffin along to the meeting, any real shot of signing Durant this offseason became an even less probable one. Durant was always unlikely and the Clippers wisely chose not to awkwardly alienate Griffin and further weaken whatever trade value he has left as they instead pitched the possibility of a Big 4 in which each player had been either an All-NBA First Team or Second Team selection within the past two seasons. The Clippers really couldn’t offer Durant a max contract even while stripping down the rest of their roster and they also wouldn’t have been able to offer a one-plus-one contract. The Warriors’ hypothetical Big 4 was arguably better and didn’t require playing with a remaining roster of minimum contract players.

The Clippers have been stuck in the first or second round during this era and they have both Griffin and Paul entering their walk years so they’ll either finally make progress or are due for a reset. 

Heat: Miami moved quickly in re-signing Hassan Whiteside at the outset of free agency, which was more important than running out whatever slim possibility they had with Durant. They will now shift their attention to re-signing Dwyane Wade and to let Andy Elisburg, Pat Riley and Mickey Arison run their characteristically exceptional smoke and mirrors capology. If Chris Bosh’s health issues were certain to not be a problem, a starting five of Durant, Whiteside, Bosh, Wade and Goran Dragic would have like been far more compelling.

Celtics: With Tom Brady tagging along in the Hamptons, Boston’s meeting with Durant was the highest profile. The Celtics seemed to gain momentum as they agreed to terms with Al Horford, but they were still banking on the “all of these assets can be whatever you want them to be” argument to Durant. The Eastern Conference Finals between Boston and Cleveland would have been extraordinary.