Victor Oladipo: Oklahoma City Thunder star talks Kevin Durant’s shock departure and the NBA Global Games in Spain
The Thunder are currently out in Spain to take on Real Madrid and Barcelona as they step-up their pre-season training
THE NBA has arrived in Spain... Well, the Oklahoma City Thunder that is.
Last season's Western Conference Finalists are taking on EuroLeague sides Real Madrid and Barcelona in the latest instalment of the NBA Global Games.
It is set to be an intriguing pair of games, with the Thunder taking to the hardwood for the first time without Kevin Durant, who sensationally teamed up with Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in this summer's free agency.
With all eyes set to be on superstar point guard Russell Westbrook, new man in the Thunder ranks Victor Oladipo - who made the trip to the London game at the O2 in January this year with former team the Orlando Magic - has had his say on life after KD.
On not being able to play alongside Durant, Oladipo said: "Kevin is a great player, but that’s the beauty about life, it continues to move forward and time continues to tick.
"At the end of the day, we’ve got to continue to get better. We can’t do anything about Kevin right now, we’ve just got to focus on our team and focus on getting better."
When asked what the team were hoping to get out of the trip to Spain, Oladipo added: “Just getting better...
"The regular season is around the corner and we’re still in training camp and we still have room to improve and get better, so we’re just trying to continue to grow.
“We’re having a great time with each other, getting to know each other better, especially the new guys and myself.
"I’m just getting to know everybody; it’s a great experience, that’s the great thing about the Global Games is that you get to get away, no family no friends but we get to spend time with each other, learn each other’s backgrounds and build a bond.”
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Oladipo appears to have instantly clicked with Spanish swingman Alex Abrines - who has returned to his home country for the trip.
On their budding friendship, Oladipo said: "His locker is right next to mine. I was really looking forward to the trip and I was talking about it pretty much as soon as I met him.
"It’s pretty cool for him to be able to come back home, for him to show us around.
"It’s always great to have guys from different backgrounds and different ethnicities on the team because they can teach you things that maybe you never knew.
“[Alex] is great. He’s still young and still has a lot of room to grow, just like a lot of us, including myself.
"He gets better every day, he can shoot out of this world, it’s great to have him and he’s not going to do anything apart from get better.
"I’m looking forward to his growth and seeing how good he could be.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder will take on Euroleague Basketball teams Real Madrid (Oct 3) and FC Barcelona Lassa (Oct 5) as part of NBA Global Games Europe 2016 presented by BBVA. You can watch both games on BT Sport.