Jerry West and the fraternity of California N.B.A. championship ring bearers — Bay Area chapter — win again.
Twenty years after Shaquille O’Neal used the stage of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics to disclose his intentions of leaving landlocked Orlando for West’s Lakers in beach-laden Los Angeles, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant chose the Fourth of July for his announcement that he planned to sign as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors.
The league’s collective head exploded on Monday with the realization that the persistent but mind-boggling speculation of Durant’s winding up in California was true.