Kevin Durant Comments on Russell Westbrook, Return to Oklahoma City

Ahead of Kevin Durant's long-awaited return to Oklahoma City on Saturday to take on the Thunder, the Golden State Warriors superstar expressed his feelings and expectations in an ESPN interview Tuesday.

According to ESPN.com, Durant told ESPN's Marc Stein he's been thinking about the game for a month and acknowledged he isn't expecting a warm welcome:

"

I know what's important [to Thunder fans] and their team is way more important than just one player. ... I'm not going in there acting like I'm going to be praised, I know how it's going to be.

I know they're going to be rowdy in there, man. I've been a part of some of the loudest nights in that arena. So I know it's not going to be the friendliest welcome, but, like I said, I can't wait to see the people that I really built relationships with over my time there and, you know, I'm sure fans that I got to know throughout my time playing there, even though they might not cheer for me out loud, I'll give 'em a wink and they know what we had deep down inside.

"

Ahead of the matchup, Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke with Royce Young of ESPN regarding Durant's return to Oklahoma City:

After spending his first nine professional seasons with the Thunder, Durant left OKC during the offseason to sign a two-year deal with Golden State worth in excess of $54 million, per Spotrac. That decision seemingly created a divide between Durant and Russell Westbrook, who opted to sign an extension with the Thunder and is enjoying an MVP-caliber season.

Durant called the apparent feud between himself and Westbrook "fake drama" and described a situation in which he felt the media manufactured an issue:

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I was doing an interview with someone and I used the word "unselfish" to describe my teammates here [with] the Warriors and someone asked Russell the question, asked if he heard what I said about being unselfish and he phrased the question as if I was saying that the Thunder and the organization and the team was selfish. And once I heard that, I was like, "They are trying to get in between this thing and make it bigger than what it is."

Obviously Russell wasn't going to hear that [full] interview I had about me just talking about my teammates I have now and someone in Oklahoma City phrased it to him as if I was calling them selfish. It's that easy. It's that easy for the media to twist something up and for the media, you know, [to] make a feud between us.

"

Following a road loss to the Warriors in January, Westbrook told reporters that he and Durant weren't on speaking terms.

Prior to a meeting between the teams in November, Westbrook was seen wearing a photographer vest, which was viewed as a shot at Durant's photography hobby, according to ESPN:

The dynamic between Durant and Westbrook is undoubtedly icy, and it is difficult to imagine Durant being greeted with anything other than a chorus of boos Saturday.

Durant is in the midst of another great season, averaging 25.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists for a Warriors team that holds a four-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the NBA.

The move to Golden State has worked out well for Durant thus far, but his biggest test yet will be holding up Saturday when confronted with perhaps the greatest vitriol he has ever encountered.