- The Golden State Warriors will host the Phoenix Suns on the opening night of the 2023-24 season
- It is set to be Kevin Durant’s first game at Chase Center with fans in attendance
- Durant won two championships and two Finals MVPs with the Warriors
Kevin Durant will finally be honored in front of Golden State Warriors fans on the opening night of the 2023-24 season. The 24th of October sees the Warriors host the Phoenix Suns and GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. stated they will plan something for Durant.
“We gotta figure out a way to appropriately honor Kevin,” Dunleavy said on 95.7 The Game’s Steiny and Guru. “He hasn’t actually played in Chase Center since departing. I know it’s been a while, but anytime great players like that who have given so much to the franchise come back, you gotta figure out a way to honor them. We’ll do that appropriately.”
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Durant certainly gave a lot to the Warriors after infamously joining them in 2016 to form one of the greatest teams in NBA history. With him and Stephen Curry leading the way, the Warriors would win back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. KD won Finals MVP on both occasions as he rose and shone on the biggest stage.
They’d have three-peated, but the former MVP would rupture his Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. It would prove to be his last game as a Warrior, as he departed for the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason. In his three seasons with Golden State, Durant averaged 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game.
The Bizarre Case Of Kevin Durant Not Playing At Chase Center In Front Of The Fans
That Achilles injury kept Durant out of action for the whole 2019-20 season, so he didn’t play at Chase Center. The following season, he would actually play there, but there were no fans in attendance due to COVID-19. The 2021-22 season saw Durant sprain his MCL just a few weeks before the Brooklyn Nets were scheduled to take on the Warriors on the road.
The 13-time All-Star would then have two chances to play there this past season, as a member of the Nets and the Suns, but missed both due to injury. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said it was nuts that Durant hadn’t played in Golden State in front of fans since his departure, and it certainly was. Unless he somehow gets injured before this upcoming season starts, he’ll finally get honored in front of all the fans at the arena.
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