Kevin Durant learned of Rockets trade while on stage at fan event
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Kevin Durant is o of the best basketball players of this generation and throughout his long NBA career the former Texas star has usually been ready for most anything.
Then Sunday afternoon happened, and the 36-year-old veteran was caught off guard for a change. With Game 7 of the NBA Finals being staged on Sunday night in Oklahoma City, the NBA didn’t have to wait until the game started to provide its first bombshell of the day.
Durant, who started his NBA career way back in 2007, was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster deal that had everyone buzzing. The trade itself was shocking enough, but what truly made it stunning was the way Durant found out about his next NBA destination.
Durant was onstage Sunday at Fanatics Fest in New York City when news of the trade broke. His laid-back appearance at the star-studded festival turned out to be anything but that when ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news while Durant was speaking as part of a “Global Game Changers” panel.
Well, things certainly changed for Durant in that moment, when he found out he would be joining the 5th franchise of his legendary career. In a scene not to be believed, fan videos showed some audience members shouting toward Durant that he had been traded to the Rockets. While Durant and moderator Taylor Rooks looked confused at first, Durant soon understood what fans were shouting.
It was surreal, and here is the video:
Rooks, ever in the moment, asked Durant what he thought about heading to Houston as the crowd reacted with a mixture of, well, everything.
“We’re gonna see man, we’re gonna see,” Durant said, trying to play off the shock with a smile.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
