Kevin Durant is leaving the Thunder to join the Warriors

Kevin Durant’s decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors was obviously going to get some blowback. NBA players didn’t hide their surprise when Durant announced his choice. The latest NBA legend to take Durant to task is Paul Pierce, who chalked it up to this generation’s lack of competitiveness.

“I’m an old-school guy,” Pierce said on Sirius XM Radio. “I’m a competitor. I never believed that - when you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. That’s always been something that’s driven me. Today’s day and age, a lot of these guys are friends. That’s like if Bird decided to go play with Magic or something. These guys, I think the competition makes the game what is.

It feels like forever since Kevin Durant left the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, leaving Russell Westbrook to basically be the lone captain of Oklahoma City, while everyone speculates what his next move is. We don’t know what happened between Durant and Westbrook, despite rumors that Durant told Westbrook he’d stay that turned out to be false ultimately because of miscommunication. Meanwhile, on Thursday, someone on Facebook posted a video of themselves asking Westbrook how he feels about Durant. Westbrook responded with a laugh.

There are two ways we can interpret this laugh:

Many Oklahoma City Thunder fans felt betrayed when Kevin Durant left the Thunder this offseason to join the Golden State Warriors. The player who had meant everything to that city now means almost nothing, and nothing illustrates that better than this photo of Durant jerseys being sold on a 99 percent markdown price.

Man. You can’t even buy a good taco for 48 cents, and this Academy store is selling the Durant replica jersey for that price. Before he left, those jerseys sold for $69.99.

Durant and Westbrook, our favorite superstar couple, are single once again. And that’s a damn shame.

As it turns out, a lot. And now the ideas of those two as lifelong teammates is gone, probably forever.

Kevin Durant is joining the Golden State Warriors, and NBA fans are feeling conflicted about it. Is all this star power on one team good for the NBA? Lifelong hater Zito Madu and eternal optimist Ricky O’Donnell decided to talk it out.

ZITO: To get the obvious out of the way since it seems everyone has fallen in love with binary thinking, what Kevin Durant did as an employee in seeking his best path to success is a good move for him personally. He wants to win rings and the Warriors provide the best opportunity to do so.

In a story for ESPN’s The Magazine last year, Ramona Shelburne succinctly noted their perceived potential: “It seemed obvious how good the Thunder could be,” she wrote. “It was a matter of how many titles, not when they’d win their first.”

Instead, they won zero. And now, Kevin Durant, their centerpiece, is gone.

Kevin Durant could not beat the Warriors this past year, and now he has joined them. His Thunder came within a few minutes of toppling the Warriors, who followed up a title in 2015 with a record 73 wins in 2016. But they didn’t, and after nine years, Durant’s long fingers remain ringless. So he’s decided to play for the Warriors.

It is mind boggling to imagine how good the Warriors can be with Durant. Our minds were boggled by the regular season success of Golden State last year, and now they’re adding one of the five best players in the world, who happens to fit stylistically and positionally with their team. My mind remains boggled. It’s one of the most fascinating moves in NBA history.

Shortly after Durant’s decision, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that Oklahoma City will consider trying to renegotiate and extend Westbrook’s contract in order to lock him in for the long haul. If the Thunder were able to open up the requisite cap space, they could add over $8 million to Westbrook’s salary this season and then extend him for three more seasons at the maximum salary and attempt to build around him.

Unsurprisingly, NBA.com’s David Aldridge reported Monday evening that there’s little chance Westbrook actually agrees to something like this. However, it’s not necessarily because of the money. As CBA expert Nate Duncan noted, there isn’t as much financial incentive for Westbrook to wait as you’d expect.

Kevin Durant is heading to the Bay Area to join the Golden State Warriors, and some fans aren’t handling it well.

Well, at least no one is at his house.

Harrison Barnes has agreed to a four-year, $94 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks in the midst of a flurry of moves surrounding Kevin Durant choosing Golden State, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein.

Once Durant made his pick, the Warriors renounced their rights to the 24-year-old restricted free agent, making him unrestricted and free to sign in Dallas. The Mavericks were reportedly going to offer him a full max offer sheet, so this move only facilitates his delivery to Dallas. Had Durant not joined Golden State, the Warriors would have matched any offer for Barnes.

Kevin Durant has left the Thunder. Unfortunately for Oklahoma City, there aren’t any replacements in the world for a player like KD. Even if there were reasonable facsimiles, none of them are on the free agent or trade markets at this point. OKC has a top-five NBA player in Russell Westbrook, a really solid frontcourt and some intriguing young pieces. But without Durant, title contention is seemingly out of the question.

So what now?

Paul Pierce said what’s on everyone’s mind.

Players went from surprise to realizing how damn good the Warriors are going to be next year.

The Thunder will start free agency well over the cap thanks to the cap holds they have in the books, including Durant’s. They will have to make several moves in order to wrangle up enough cap space to sign Horford, but it’s not impossible for them to do so.

So let’s take a closer look at this rumor.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.

SB Nation: You predicted the Warriors winning when they were down 3-1. Was that about Golden State? Kevin Durant? Or both?