ether he was worth keeping around.Adding to tha

Oklahoma City was left stunned and is in a bit of a panic after the departure of free agent and?Thunder?star Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors, longtime mayor Mick Cornett told ESPN Radios Capital Games podcast.Were stunned, said Cornett, who has been the mayor of Oklahoma City since 2004 and is a former sports reporter in the city. We had no history. Kevin was our Ernie Banks and Michael Jordan. Hes the history. ... Weve been spurned by someone we cared deeply about. Thats the emotional aspect of it.Durant, the 2007 national player of the year after one season at Texas, was selected No. 2 overall in the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who then moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.Durant was the NBA Rookie of the Year and went on to be NBA MVP in 2014. He also was a seven-time All-Star selection, Olympic gold medalist (2012) and led the Thunder to the NBA Finals in 2012.In 2013, he donated $1 million to the American Red Cross after a devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.On Monday, Durant announced he was leaving for the Golden State Warriors, who erased a 3-1 deficit to beat the Thunder in the Western Conference finals. Durant, a free agent, reportedly will sign a two-year, $54.3 million deal with a player option after the first season.[Durant] took on being an almost incredible figure in the city, Cornett said. If you said youre from Oklahoma City, theyre likely to say Kevin Durant or theyre likely to say OKC Thunder. He put us on the map. Its not all him -- (owner) Clay Bennett and (GM) Sam Presti have orchestrated an incredible franchise here -- but he was the face of the franchise both here locally and worldwide.Cornett said it was hard to put into numbers the financial impact that Durant had on the city.He meant so much in ways its impossible to quantify, Cornett said. If you were a CEO in OKC and you were hiring from the East or West Coast 10 years ago, you might have said Oklahoma City isnt culturally relevant.But Kevin is a part of the success story for OKC. Kevin was a part of the renaissance. This city has come so far, so fast -- probably further, faster than any city in American history. Kevin was right there along with us. Theres a slight sense of panic.Cornett heaped praise on Durant, but he did say the perception of the superstar has been tainted in the city.His image has changed drastically than it was last week because of his decision to join a team of superstars in the NBA, Cornett said. You cant get that back. From the basketball side of it, I dont believe Kevin is going to have the impact on the Warriors that he did on the Thunder. The Thunder could have won next years championship. But I never got the sense -- and I cant imagine he fooled us for nine years -- that he wanted to leave Oklahoma City.Cornett made an impassioned plea for fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook to stay. Westbrook can be a free agent in 2017.If the Thunder build a team around Russell Westbrook, they could easily do so, Cornett said. But Russell has to buy into that. I dont know if Russell is interested in being the figurehead of the franchise. If Russell were to choose to stay in Oklahoma City -- and in the wake of Kevins departure -- he would be a larger icon than ever before.Cornett is confident the Thunder can rebound without Durant.I really do put a lot of trust in Clay Bennett and Sam Presti, Cornett said. They want to be good every year and for the long term. The idea that they would trade their best players for draft picks and try to rebuild and get in the lottery ... thats never been the strategy that theyve communicated [to me]. They want to compete here and they should.Cheap Adidas Shoes Canada . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. Wholesale Adidas Shoes . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. http://www.cheapadidasshoescanada.com/ . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. Adidas Wholesale Canada . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Adidas Shoes Canada Outlet . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2).SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Colin Kaepernick survived San Franciscos roster cuts on Saturday when the 49ers determined that his ability as a quarterback more than offset any potential distraction over his refusal to stand during the national anthem.Coach Chip Kelly announced that Kaepernick will start the season as the backup to Blaine Gabbert with Christian Ponder as the third-stringer. Kelly had telegraphed that move to keep Kaepernick earlier in the week when he called him one of his teams two best quarterbacks.Kaepernicks status on the team was briefly in question after his anthem protest over racial oppression and police brutality in the United States became public last weekend. But the Niners determined his ability as a player outweighed any potential distraction.When hes here, hes all about football and all about work, Kelly said. Thats what Ive seen since weve been here. He continues to display that every day hes been in this building.In other moves, the Niners acquired receiver Rod Streater and an undisclosed draft pick from Kansas City for an undisclosed draft pick and traded safety L.J. McCray to Seattle for an undisclosed draft pick. Both deals are pending physicals.The Niners also waived receiver DeAndre Smelter with an injury, placed linebacker Aaron Lynch on the suspended list for four games for violating league rules on substance abuse and released 20 players.But the biggest focus was at quarterback, where San Francisco released Jeff Driskel but kept Kaepernick and Ponder.Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem on Aug. 26 against Green Bay and was outspoken in his reasoning, saying he would continue standing up for people who were oppressed until he saw significant change.Kaepernick once again protested the anthem on Thursday night in San Diego, but kneeled alongside teammate Eric Reid, instead of sitting, in a move meant to show more respect to veterans.Kaepernicks performance had plummeted in recent years after he led San Francisco to the Super Bowl following the 2012 season and the NFC title game the following year.He eventually lost his starting job to Gabbert midway through last season and had done little to show he should win it back this year. He was slowedd in the offseason after undergoing operations on his non-throwing shoulder, right thumb and left knee and did not get any practice time.dddddddddddde returned to the practice field at the start of training camp in late July but then missed about two weeks with a tired right shoulder but wasnt able to win the job back.He knows he still has work to do, Kelly said. Hes not up to his playing weight that he was when he was successful here and hell continue to work on that. He missed a couple of weeks there with the arm and that set him back a little bit in terms of his ability to compete for it.After struggling in his return against the Packers and causing a media maelstrom with his protest, some raised questions about whether he was worth keeping around.Adding to that was the fact that 49ers would be on the hook for his $14.5 million base salary in 2017 if Kaepernick gets hurt this season and is not fully recovered by April 1. Kaepernicks $11.9 million salary for this season became guaranteed when he was on the roster in April. The Niners had discussions with Denver about a possible trade in the offseason and Kaepernick even met with Broncos general manager John Elway. But hangups over Kaepernicks salary contributed to the deal falling apart.Kaepernicks teammates supported his protest and Reid even joined in. Kaepernick said after Thursday nights game that he loved America and wants to make the country a better place. He also said he intends to donate $1 million to different organizations to help these communities and help these people, declining to provide specifics.The other players cut by the Niners were receivers Dres Anderson, Devon Cajuste, Bryce Treggs, Ryan Whalen and DeAndrew White; offensive linemen Alex Balducci, Fahn Cooper, Colin Kelly and Norman Price; defensive linemen Demetrius Cherry, B.J. McBryde and Garrison Smith; linebackers Corey Lemonier, Marcus Rush and Shayne Skov; running backs DuJuan Harris and Kelvin Taylor; tight end JeRon Hamm; and cornerback Prince Charles Iworah.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '