ESPN reporter, Royce Young, recanted his report that Kevin Durant said he would stay with OKC.
Young, in an episode of the ESPN basketball talk podcast, True Hoop, claimed that Durant told both former teammate, Russell Westbrook, and Oklahoma City Thunder personnel that he was staying in town.
“Three weeks ago, Kevin Durant’s sitting there at dinner, telling [Westbrook], hey, I’m coming back, man. Don’t worry about it. And now, Russell Westbrook has been kind of thrown into this in having to decide his future a summer earlier than expected,” claimed Young on the podcast.
“Kevin Durant, more so than even that, was telling people, hey, yeah, I mean I’m coming back,” continued Young. “Like I said in there, a week before Kevin Durant sat down in the Hamptons, he was in Oklahoma City ready to make an offer on a multi-million-dollar house. So, the guy was pretty serious about coming back, and then things turned rather quickly for him to leave. And there’s no doubt that the organization felt a little bit burned by this.”
“I misspoke in saying that Durant specifically told Westbrook he was coming back,” wrote Young on Wednesday.
According to reports, Westbrook was hurt by the fact that Durant did not tell him of his decision to leave the team before it was reported by international sports media.
Westbrook is now being offered a three year max deal by the Oklahoma City Thunder that he will mull over in the coming months.