Billy Donovan finds himself in a really odd place — as he only had one season to coach Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook — yet finds himself as the point guards biggest supporter — after KD bolted for Golden State.
If there was any tension between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook during the 2015-16 season, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan didn’t notice it — telling The Vertical that he didn’t notice any issues:
“I think with Russell and Kevin, both of those guys wanted to win at a very high level and I think they had a really good relationship,” Donovan said on “The Vertical Podcast with Woj.” “I don’t think there’s any question about that. I think being able to talk to those guys, being able to bring both of them in together, being able to communicate with both of them, I thought from my experience I never had any situations where I thought ‘jeez, we’ve got a problem here this week. These two guys are on two ends of the spectrum and they’re refusing to work together.’ That never happened at all. I think those two guys really wanted to compete and win at the highest of levels.”
Even if we continue to lie and say that the two shared a good relationship off the court — the fact remains that Durant sought a more free-flowing natural offense — over the frustrations of playing with the mercurial Westbrook.