Kevin Durant and Jeff Green are the last two active NBA players who played for the Seattle SuperSonics. They will face each other in the fourth consecutive Finals matchup between their teams beginning Thursday.
The Seattle SuperSonics are headed to the NBA Finals — what’s left of them at least.
With the retirement of Oklahoma City Thunder Center Nick Collison announced earlier this month, only two active players who played for the Sonics organization remain in the NBA: Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors and Jeff Green of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The two are now set to face each other in the historic fourth-consecutive NBA Finals matchup between their teams, although neither has been involved in the rivalry long.
Durant came to the Warriors last year from the Thunder, for which he had played since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008. He led Golden State to the 2017 NBA Championship over a Cavaliers squad helmed by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. This year will mark Durant’s second trip to the Finals with the Warriors.
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Green, meanwhile, joined the Cavaliers in the fall and will make the first NBA Finals appearance of his 10-year career. After missing the entire 2011-12 season due to heart surgery, Green was visibly emotional after his 19-point effort against the Boston Celtics in Game 7 helped propel his team to the Finals.
Cleveland’s fourth-straight trip to the Finals was less certain than Golden State’s. The Cavaliers lost Irving to the Celtics in the offseason and changed their roster almost completely before the trade deadline in February. Thanks to a monstrous effort from LeBron James this postseason, the team will look to beat Golden State once more beginning Thursday night.
NBA fans in Seattle are still awaiting the return of the Sonics franchise, but they won’t have to wait long to at least see Durant in action again. The NBA announced in February that the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors will play a preseason game in Seattle on Oct. 6, with the Warriors acting as the home team.