I think Upper Deck moved a little too quick to make a Kevin Durant All-Star Vinyl Figure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Durant, but I’m always hesitant to buy any sports collectible of an athlete in their professional jersey because of the way players today tend to jump to a new team as soon as their contract is up. Considering this is only Durant’s first year on the Seattle Sonics, what’s to say he doesn’t end up playing somewhere else in 3-4 years and is ultimately remembered for playing on his second, third or even fourth team. On top of that, it is almost a given than the Sonics will be leaving Seattle in the next few years, meaning these figures will be obsolete in no time.
In fact, the owner of the Sonics has already said he’d be happy to leave the team name, colors and records in Seattle for a future franchise to take over. That would mean Durant’s team would have new jerseys, colors and a new team name as soon as next year once the team is relocated to Oklahoma City. I don’t see how anyone could justify spending $75 on a figure that could be out of date in less than 6 months. The argument from Upper Deck that while “the future home of the Sonics may be up in the air, Seattle will always be the site of Kevin Durant's rookie campaign” just doesn’t cut it for me. (link) It’s really too bad Upper Deck didn’t make a Texas Longhorns variant figure of Durant, because The Blot would scoop up one of those bad boys in a heart beat.