Before every regular season, there’s a handful of games that get circled on the calendar for NBA fans, either due to an immensely talented matchup or palpable drama attached to the game.
Usually these contests get scheduled for Christmas day, which has become the NBA’s most high profile date in the regular season.
With the animosity being directed towards Kevin Durant and the Warriors this offseason, it’s somewhat surprising that the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors weren’t scheduled for Christmas.
The Warriors are tentatively set to play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas day, in an epic rematch of the NBA Finals.
Being the marquee team in the league breeds a lot of rivalries, and the league had to make a judgement call about which matchup represented a bigger draw.
Marc Stein of ESPN is reporting that the Warriors are unofficially set to play in Oklahoma City on February 11. The official NBA schedule is expected to be released within the next week.
Link to the @espn latest on Kevin Durant's scheduled February return to OKC and more on the 2016-17 NBA schedule –> https://t.co/hD4h84mm3S
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) August 8, 2016
The first meeting between the Warriors and Thunder is set for very early in the season. They will square off in Oakland on November 3.
The league knows that the games between these two teams will be very publicized, and it looks like they’re being spaced out appropriately to best utilize that buzz.
The NBA isn’t like the NFL, where a limited amount of games forces teams to only play a small handful of other teams in the league.
In an 82 game regular season, an NBA team doesn’t get to avoid any other team, so the Warriors were eventually going to encounter the Thunder. It was just a matter of when.
The game in Oakland will be filled with it’s own anxiety, but the more serious ordeal will be the meeting in Oklahoma City.
If this offseason is any indication, those fans are going to be extremely angry, and Durant will get engulfed in jeers.
I’m hoping that enough time will have passed by that time that the wounds won’t be as fresh, and Durant can be warmly welcomed back and thanked for all he gave to that franchise.
Grudges don’t typically evaporate that quickly, though, especially in free agent matters. As irrational as the crowd response may be, Durant should probably prepare for the worst.