Each week, I write a column about the NBA for the Spanish newspaper El Pais. What follows is the English version of that column. The original (Spanish) piece can be found here.
At a recent party, a man told me that he was amazed that the principal actor in a movie he was working on had been so approachable, humble, and generally decent. The party was in Los Angeles, so that I had to listen to someone extol the virtues of an actor was not surprising. What was surprising was the identity of the actor. My fellow partier was talking about Kevin Durant.
According to my informant, Kevin Durant spent last summer filming a movie. This movie has a ridiculous premise; it’s about Durant magically transferring his basketball powers to a tiny white kid who is participating in a halftime shooting contest.
But this isn’t a column about cinema. I’m not here to lambast Kevin Durant’s questionable taste in roles. I’m here to discuss Kevin Durant’s chances of winning an NBA championship.
Why an NBA championship? Well, because, after Durant wrapped his film, and while we were busy gorging ourselves on Christmas dinners and giving up on our New Year’s resolutions, Durant’s team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, was busy compiling the best record in the NBA.
This happened in large part because of the actor in that absurd movie. And because the Thunder employ Russell Westbrook and James Harden and, as you may have heard, those guys are good at basketball. And because they have a set of role players well-suited to their stars. (Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison, Kendrick Perkins, Daequan Cook.)
Why, then, do I feel that the Thunder have as much chance of winning an NBA championship as Kevin Durant’s movie does of winning an Oscar?
In part because the Thunder have had a relatively easy schedule thus far; they’ve not yet played the Heat, Bulls, 76ers, or Pacers. And in part because I don’t fully believe that the rift between Durant and Westbrook is a figment of reporters’ imaginations. (As Durant and Westbrook would have us believe.)
And it’s hard to imagine the Thunder winning a NBA championship because the team itself seems like a work of fiction – like it was created for Kevin Durant’s movie, down to the team’s colors, the team’s logo, even the city where the team is headquartered. (Oklahoma City. It sounds a little like something out of Dune, doesn’t it?)
But most of all, it’s hard to imagine the Thunder as NBA champions because we’re still getting used to the Thunder existing. (Yes, I know, they used to be the Sonics. But when you watch the Thunder play, do you think of Shawn Kemp?)
This is a natural reaction for all of us; ten years ago, it was hard for anyone to imagine a black American President.
So we shouldn’t be blamed for discounting the Thunder. For now, the idea of them becoming NBA champions seems as far-fetched as me seeing Durant’s movie. It’s up to them to convince us that success is normal. Based on the team’s progress so far, that isn’t a ridiculous thing to ask.
Getting me to that movie, on the other hand…well, that’s another question entirely.
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