Kevin Durant waved to the fans. He clapped his hands. He then motioned them to chant louder.
“Save Our Sonics!!!” a sell-out crowd pleaded. “Save Our Sonics!!”
Durant just finished what he considered his most memorable game of his NBA rookie season. The reasons went beyond delaying the Dallas Mavericks’ hope to clinch a playoff spot. Even if Durant did not know it definitively at the time, the game on April 13, 2008 also marked the last time the Seattle Sonics would play at Key Arena before relocating to Oklahoma City. And over a decade later, Durant remembered vividly the words and chants that filled his eardrums.