The Thunder fan who wants Durant, OK, to change name
Ryan Nazari didn’t really want to change the name of the city in the southeastern part of the state from Durant to Westbrook.
He just wanted to make his high school buddies laugh.
But in the day or so since the Edmond North senior posted an online petition to rename the town, he has not only blown past his initial goal of 500 signatures but also is approaching his new goal of 2,500. His name has been mentioned by news outlets near and far. Even ESPN and Bleacher Report have talked about what he did.
“It went out of control,” Nazari said.
In some unexpected ways, too.
Some folks in Durant are miffed about the proposed name change — apparently, they didn’t take their funny pills this week — and one even went so far as to start a petition to rename Nazari’s hometown of Edmond to Ibaka. Now that’s funny. But seriously ... “I don’t hate Durant, Oklahoma,” Nazari said, then added something that might surprise some folks, “and I don’t hate Kevin Durant. I hate his decision, but I don’t think Kevin Durant’s a bad guy.”
Nazari is a huge fan of the Thunder. He watches every game. He reads every story. He hangs on every little bit of news or gossip or commentary. And when Kevin Durant decided to leave the Thunder for the Warriors, it hit Nazari hard. “It still hurts,” he said. Even though nearly two months have passed, he still struggles with Durant’s departure. Yes, there’s a measure of pain that comes from him leaving, but Nazari says he’s hurt worse by how he left.
The timing of the decision left the Thunder with few options in the free-agent market; even though it was only four days after free agency began, virtually all of the big fish had been fried.
Almost as bad was Durant not calling Russell Westbrook to deliver the news personally.
“This guy not talking to his teammates,” Nazari said, “was he ever really that into Oklahoma City at all?”
Healing balm came a month later when Westbrook re-signed.
“It took away a lot of the sting,” Nazari said. “How he acted. How he was talking about how he liked Oklahoma so much and how he was going to stay loyal. It really helped.”
About that time, Nazari started thinking about doing a petition to change the name of Durant to Westbrook. The city wasn’t named for Kevin Durant, a fact that Nazari knows, but he just thought it would be funny. His parents would get a chuckle out of it. His friends would love the whole thing. He figured that’s all the farther it would go.
But for weeks, Nazari did nothing with his idea. He didn’t have time. He’s a high school student at Edmond North. He’s a soccer player.
Then as Wednesday night became Thursday morning, Nazari found himself at home with nothing to do.
(Apparently, sleeping wasn’t a good enough option.)
After midnight, Nazari formulated his petition and submitted it on Petition. org.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the great state of Oklahoma has been betrayed,” he wrote. “As many of you know, Kevin Durant has left our state, torn out our hearts, and left our beloved Oklahoma City Thunder in depleted shape. All of this after even being offered a cabinet position for the State of Oklahoma.
“It is because of this heinous action that I believe the State of Oklahoma has a responsibility to change the name of the City of Durant to Westbrook. Yes, it is understood that the city Durant was not named after the evil Kevin Durant, but it is just another hideous reminder of what happened to our community.”
Nazari tweeted and shared a link to the petition with his friends, then went to bed. He thought he’d hear from friends the next morning, but that was the extent of his expectations.
But through the magic of social media, the petition caught the attention of a couple news outlets.
The texts and the calls hit Nazari’s phone like an avalanche. He couldn’t keep up, and neither could his cell.
“My phone died twice,” he said.
He even heard teachers and principals at Edmond North talking about what he’d done.
“I was scared,” he said. “I really was. I thought they were going to do something about it. But they liked it.”
The only folks who didn’t were the ones who missed the joke. There were a few people who posted in the comments section of the petition calling this a terrible and disrespectful idea. There was also a writer for SB Nation who took issue with the petition and seemed quite serious about it as he pointed out that the city was named for Dixon Durant, a Choctaw who founded the town 140 years go.
“Durant is actually the home of the Choctaw Nation headquarters,” he wrote. “There are about 230,000 members of the Choctaw Nation, which makes the city of Durant sort of a big deal. The Choctaw, of course, came to settle southeastern Oklahoma as the first victims of Andrew Jackson’s heinous Trail of Tears program.
“So ... yeah, maybe chill on demanding the city lose its Choctaw-honoring name over a man’s decision to seek employment elsewhere, all right?”
Um, maybe chill on taking this seriously, instead?
The leaders of Durant got the joke.
A couple city employees heard about the petition Thursday morning, and in talking with the leadership, they decided to play it up. When several news outlets called seeking comment, Durant vice mayor Destry Hawthorne went along with the whole thing.
“We’re going to have a resolution at the next city council meeting,” he said tongue in cheek, “and we just need to figure out how we’re going to get the signs changed and the letterhead and things like that.”
Hawthorne also pointed out that the city recently started a renovation of the massive concrete welcome signs at the edge of town. The words “WELCOME TO DURANT” had been stripped off.
“Perfect timing,” he said. “We’ll save money to redo the signs.”
Still, some folks didn’t get the joke.
“We’re not changing anything,” Hawthorne said Friday morning. “Definitely no name change.”
What about a temporary change?
I told the vice mayor that towns have been known to ditch their name for a short time. Back in 1993, for example, the smallest incorporated town in Montana voted to change its name during the football season from Ismay to Joe. Not only did the town get all sorts of attention but all 22 of its residents were flown to Kansas City to see Joe Montana and the Chiefs play a game that season.
What about Durant becoming Westbrook for a day?
There could be a parade. A proclamation by the mayor. A celebration that would bring goodwill to Bryan County from all corners of the sports world. Might even lure a certain Thunder point guard to town.
“That might actually be a good idea,” Hawthorne told me. “I might have to see about that.”
Rest assured, I’ll be there if it happens.
And if Russell Westbrook can’t make it, I bet Ryan Nazari would gladly serve as the grand marshal of the parade.