The Thunder fan in me says Goodbye to Kevin Durant

July 4th was both a wondrous day, and a crushing one for me. I got to go my uncle's beach house and relax, watching fireworks over smoldering s'mores. On the other hand, Kevin Durant's stunning departure to Silicon Valley left me, and many other OKC fans, in a state of despair.

Just six weeks ago, the Thunder had done the impossible: they held a 3-1 series lead over the 73-win Golden-State Warriors. Everything was clicking. KD had turned into a defensive monster as well as an offensive one. Russell Westbrook wasn't having inexcusable lapses on defense. Steven Adams was beautifully growing up in front of my eyes as a two-way center. Andre Roberson had finally started hitting those wide-open threes. Everything was coming together after so many years of excruciatingly ill-timed injuries to all our studs.

Then, stuff happened. The Warriors predictably won game 5, but it was ok since the Thunder were coming home for game 6 to finish them off and advance to the Finals for the first time since 2011.

Looking back, game 6 was the Thunder franchises' most important game in history; and they lost it. Klay Thompson became a human fireball, he was so hot from deep. Everything was going in for him, and he canned 11 of his 18 three-pointers attempted. He just couldn't miss, and the Thunder had no answer. Dread trickled in after game 6, so it was slightly more bearable to stomach the Thunder losing in Oakland in game 7.

While obviously disappointed in the outcome of the series, I started drawing parallels from this Thunder team to that of the 2013 San Antonio Spurs, who suffered a brutal loss to the Miami Heat in the 2013 Finals. Those same Spurs came back the next season with anger and a clear mission: Championship. And they won. Sometimes it takes heartbreak to fuel future success and I truly believed that the same Thunder team that just lost would come into next season with so much anger and drive that they would finally achieve that coveted championship.

Alas, that same Thunder team is not coming back next season, or ever. Throughout his years in OKC, Kevin Durant must have felt like a fan at times. The team was as electrifying as real thunder. They had moments of otherworldly brilliance, where no one could keep up with them from an athletic standpoint. There were also the maddening stretches, the Westbrook and Durant one-on-ones that many times yielded awful, contested three-point chuck-ups. That dark side of the Thunder may have been one of the reasons Durant ultimately fled.

Who he is fleeing to is what stings the most for me. He is going to the team we were 'soclose' to dispatching, but not close enough. Durant joined the team he could not beat. He joined a rival, consequentially decapitating another. Him leaving was going to be gut-wrenching wherever he went, but I feel I would have more peace with myself if he went to somewhere like Boston, but not these oh-so-hateable Warriors.

These Warriors kick at the privates, whine and throw mouth-guards when calls don't go their way and taunt when they make their threes. They beat my Thunder, and watching KD go to the dark side hurts so bad I can't tell you.

This decision has brought up so many what-ifs. What if Steph were on a contract that mirrored his production, not his laughably below-market one he is on that gave the Warriors the money to pursue KD? What if the Thunder closed the Warriors out? What if the Warriors closed the Cavs out, so KD would feel queasy going to a team that had just won two straight championships without him?

All these what-ifs leave me combing over everything, saying, "if this had or hadn't happened, KD would still be in Oklahoma City." I think it's a similar feeling when a team loses a close game, and players and coaches go over every play in painstaking detail, asking, "what if player X makes that free-throw, player Y doesn't foul a three-point shooter, player Z makes that layup?" These exercises are excruciating to go through, but in a weird way they can be comforting.

Perhaps the worst part of KD leaving now is that I believed the Thunder were going to win the 2017 NBA championship. They would be humbled buy their loss and be hungry for revenge. They had traded Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova.

Oladipo is only 24, and he defends like a madman and scores with that same electric quality the Thunder has embodied. Sabonis, a 20-year-old rookie, is tough as nails and is a smooth passer and willing scorer. Ilyasova could stretch the floor better than Ibaka, whose defensive prowess became less valuable due to the emergence of Steven Adams as a rim-protector.

KD would also have Russ, Enes Kanter, Roberson, Waiters, Cam Payne and vets like Nick Collison and Anthony Morrow. The team looked stacked, but now there is an irreplaceable gap at small forward.

The Thunder will survive KD's departure. The have one of the best general manager's in the game in Sam Presti. They still have a franchise player in Westbrook, as well as gobs of young talent in Adams (22), Kanter (24), Oladipo (24), Roberson (24), Payne (21), Dion Waiters, (24), Mitch McGary (24) and Sabonis (20).  They should be fine, but now a championship is probably out of reach.

KD leaving on July 4th was somewhat poetic. If he really was starting to feel like he needed the ball more, he broke free for his independence, on Independence Day.

As I've said before, his departure will sting and burn and itch.

But in the big picture, a man pursued another job. It's something millions and millions do throughout their lifetimes. This is not the end of the world, but I feel like I watched a firework explode, me smoldering like a s'more, helpless in the fire.

Yet, there are worse things in life.