Kevin Durant is ready to let his talent do the talking

The Thunder, securing their big man, made him the third highest paid player in the upcoming season on the roster, primarily because he does two things in scoring and offensive rebounding at an elite level.

He will be a free agent after this season, and rampant speculation from the media about where he might land has driven him to the point of calling people out.

That was also the backdrop for Presti’s decision to fire Scott Brooks this summer after Brooks did one of his best coaching jobs in seven years with the team – leading the Thunder to 45 wins and nearly grabbing the eighth seed in the West despite significant injury absences for Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka.

Utah Jazz (38-44): They were the belles of the ball after the All-Star break last season, winning 19 of their last 29 games on the back of a superb defence led by the promotion of “The Stifle Tower” Rudy Gobert to starting centre. Aldridge left Portland for San Antonio and a spot on a tantalizing front line next to Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard, while Houston (Ty Lawson) and the Los Angeles Clippers (Paul Pierce) added potential missing pieces. For a first-year head coach, Donovan will be pressured to deliver success immediately for OKC.

So the questions fly. Remember he only played nine games with Serge Ibaka previous year and none with Durant. Gordon Hayward scored 18 points. Here are 10 things I think will happen this season. Rotation – The Thunder should solidify their rotation in their final preseason game. As Snyder stated, the opportunity is there for the Jazz to be a good team, but the players and coaching staff must continue to fight if they hope to capture more victories this year.

“It’s been fun”, Durant said. “Just excited to play for him”. And for all those who may be wondering, Russell Westbrook (bottom right) is supposed to be his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate, Steven Adams.

Coming off the bench means Kanter won’t play as many minutes with a few of the Thunder’s best defenders. “We know how to get each other going and we know how to find our rhythm”.

However, none of that mattered for a couple of hours Monday afternoon as members of the team and staff visited the OU Children’s Hospital and OU Medical Center to check in on victims of Saturday’s Oklahoma State homecoming parade crash. It’s just one of 82 regular-season games, but should have nice early intensity from two teams with their eye on the big prize. Harden also had to carry the Rockets for a while with Dwight Howard dealing with injury issues last season.

From the defending National Basketball Association Champion Golden State Warriors to the (now) relatively healthy Cleveland Cavaliers, there won’t be any lacking storylines in either conference.