riot mode after hearing the Sonics traded Ray Allen<\/a> for an injured Wally Szcerbiak (damn!), Delonte West (Goddammit!) and the 5th pick (eh!) in the draft, just minutes before Seattle selected KD.<\/p>\nFrom the start, the Jesus-less Sonics was a one-man show and it was headlined by Durant. He scored 18 points in his NBA debut and never looked back with 30 here, a game-winner there, and for the finale, he put up a career-high 42 points and 13 boards against the Warriors. His season average of 20 points per game was seven more than the second leading scorer (Chris Wilcox) on the team, good enough for Rookie of the Year honors and rare enough to be put on a short list with Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James as the only teenagers to ever average 20+ over a season.<\/p>\n
Two days after KD dropped 42 on his future team, the NBA owners (minus Mark Cuban and Paul Allen) dropped a bomb on Seattle by approving the relocation of the Sonics to Oklahoma City. It was a move that was two years in the making after a group of OKC businessmen -- led by \"Seattle Supervillain\" Clay Bennett, who was booed throughout the last home game in Seattle - bought the franchise back in 2006.<\/p>\n
For the next few years, angry and basketball-starved fans in Seattle watched the teenager they once cheered for turn into a man among boys, a perennial All-Star and league scoring leader from 2019-2012.<\/p>\n
Then on August 11th of 2013 -- half a decade after his last game as a Sonic -- Kevin Durant returned to Seattle, on his own dime (private jet), to play in the Seattle Pro-Am (then known as the Jamal Crawford Pro-Am). Over 3,000 fans packed the Seattle Pacific University gym to welcome the last great Sonic back.<\/p>\n