This season there will be a No. 35 on the court for the Thunder, but Kevin Durant will not be wearing it.
The Thunder signed undrafted rookie P.J. Dozier in a two-way contract Tuesday, and he will become the first player to wear the No. 35 since Durant's departure in 2016.
Durant spent nine seasons wearing No. 35 for Oklahoma City, but Dozier said he did not even think about who had that number before him when he asked the organization if he could wear the number this season.
"Honestly I didn't even think twice about (Durant having it) when I said it because I had it in preseason when I was with Dallas," Dozier said (via ESPN.com). "I just saw it was open and took advantage of it."
Dozier did say there was significance behind the number within his family.
"My second cousin was Reggie Lewis," he said, speaking of the former Boston Celtics great who died suddenly at age 27 in 1993. "That's all it is. Wasn't anything other than that honestly."
Durant's agent, Rich Kleiman, did not seem to happy with the news as he responded on Twitter to a picture of Dozier wearing the number.
