Kevin Durant’s OKC Thunder tenure will always have a lot of ‘what-if?’ associated with it. A new one has been added as a trade in the 2009-10 season could’ve vaulted the Thunder to almost immediate championship contention, as Durant revealed to the ‘Out The Mud’ podcast that OKC almost acquired Tyson Chandler.
The Chandler trade fell through due to a failed medical before he was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks, where he won a title and eliminated the Thunder in the Playoffs. Durant referred to the failed Chandler trade as a move that hurt the team as much as James Harden’s departure in 2012.
“We were supposed to get Tyson Chandler. We had traded for Tyson, a trade that went through, the 2009-10 season. The doctor said something was wrong with his toe so we rescinded the trade and the next season, he won a title with Dallas.”
“Imagine a lineup with Russ (Westbrook), you (Tony Allen), me, Serge (Ibaka), and Tyson Chandler? Then James (Harden) coming off the bench? If we got Tyson Chandler at the center, come on bro. We would’ve been different with him at center.”
“People talk about James getting traded as what f***ed our team up. That f***ed our team up for sure, but us not getting Tyson, that hurt.”
Chandler was one of the best defensive centers of his era, solidifying his legacy by playing a crucial role for the Mavericks in their 2011 title win and then winning Defensive Player of the Year next season with the New York Knicks.
The time Kevin Durant is talking about was when Chandler was Chris Paul’s co-star with the New Orleans Hornets. He averaged 6.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in the 2009-10 season before being traded to the Mavericks in July 2010.
His stint in Dallas made him a franchise legend, as he currently works with the Mavericks to aid the development of Dereck Lively II. Lively has often been compared to Chandler, so the center is now working to ensure the 20-year-old Mavs center realizes his potential and can be to Luka Doncic what he was to Dirk Nowitzki.
Durant is right to be upset that this deal never went through, as Chandler would’ve vaulted the Thunder to early contention. They definitely wouldn’t have been run over by the Mavericks in the 2011 Western Conference Finals if they had Chandler while the Mavs didn’t. He averaged 8.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in that series as the Mavs walked out 4-1 winners en route to their only championship win in history.
OKC would have been impossible to challenge in the post with a Chandler-Ibaka frontcourt where the near seven-foot Durant served as the small forward. Tony Allen would be the designated POA defender for almost every star in the league while Westbrook would be the high-intensity floor-setter. The fact that Harden would be their sixth man makes this one of the greatest what-if rosters of all time.
This could’ve potentially changed Durant’s whole career. If they won the 2011 title instead of Dallas, he likely wouldn’t have left the franchise for their immediate rivals in the Golden State Warriors in 2017.
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