Tucked away in an NHL-style corner locker, 70 minutes before his Warriors debut this past Saturday in Vancouver, Kevin Durant took his headphones off and readied for his first road interview of the season.

In every opposing city, reporters will swarm. He’s the league’s biggest story. The questions will get repetitive. How’s the adjustment been? Anything surprise you about your new team?

Durant smiled.

“I’m used to going into practice and having it a certain way,” he said. “These guys around here are super loose. But disciplined at the same time. It’s just a fun brand. They make basketball just even more fun than it was.”

Wham. “Than it was.” Indirect or not, positive or negative, any Durant comment about how things are now will find direct comparisons against what he left. To many, a compliment for the Warriors will double as a shot at the Thunder.

That’s not his desire. But his fame and sour departure have created it. If you’re having so much fun now, were you not back then?

“I didn’t say that,” Durant said sternly, then repeated. “I didn’t say that.”

General manager Sam Presti cultivated a business-like work environment in Oklahoma City. It stems from his Spurs background. The practice facility is kept spotless. Every racked basketball is lined up perfectly with the one next to it, Spalding logo facing outward. Take a water from the fridge, it’ll be restocked within the hour.

If you’re not a paid member of the Thunder organization, don’t step on the court. That’s for players and team personnel. It’s a sanctuary for work. The building is kept quiet and uncluttered.

That mode of operation worked well for the Thunder, jiving perfectly with their stars. Russell Westbrook and Durant are about as task-oriented and focused as NBA players get. Their no-nonsense approach bled through the rest of the organization. They didn’t win fewer than 47 games the past seven seasons.

But Durant’s new team goes about things a bit differently. Music blares during and after practice. The gym is often packed, people shuffling all around. Work gets done, but the environment is more boisterous, frantic, alive.

“Everybody is super-focused, but they realize that we’re playing a game and you’re supposed to enjoy it,” Durant said. “It’s great for me. Especially for someone who is just used to always being drill sergeant with what I do. To relax a little bit, let my hair hang a little bit has been fun.”

It’s been fewer than 10 days. This adjustment is still in its infant stages. But it’s not just a culture shock, it’s a system overhaul. Durant is having to play and think basketball a bit differently.

In OKC, the offense was built around Durant and Westbrook’s elite one-on-one skill. The roster was constructed to fit it. They were flanked by mostly defensive specialists, not high-level shooters and instinctive playmakers. So they isolated and attacked. And it mostly worked. They were consistently top-five in offensive efficiency the past half-decade.

But these versatile, loaded Warriors operate differently. Shooters and playmakers are everywhere. Kerr demands movement. Durant has been forced to break some built-in offensive habits.

“Just the standing,” Durant said. “When I’m off the ball, always cutting, always trying to free up my man, free up another guy to get a good shot for the offense. That’s something that’s very, very challenging, but it’s needed for me to be the complete basketball player that I want to be.”

Throughout the first few practices, Kerr would find himself correcting a stagnant Durant. Cut, back screen, do something. Don’t stand if you don’t have the ball. He looked a bit lost in Vancouver. He looked fluid on Tuesday against the Clippers.

“We’ve talked to him a lot about pinning away, cutting through, setting a back screen,” Kerr said. “Especially on the weak side. It all clicked last night. All of a sudden, he was feeling it. He was setting screens, he was moving, he was cutting.”

There have been many opinions about why Durant decided to make this mid-career leap. Plenty of factors are at play. An under told one: his desire to alter his game and morph as a player. That’s rare for an established 28-year-old future Hall of Famer. They typically prefer to play like they’ve grown accustomed. New acquisitions can fit around them. Durant went the other way.

“There’s a lot I need to learn about the game of basketball,” he said. “I’m not as smart as I thought I was about the game.”

Many will take that as a slight toward the Thunder. Durant chooses to separate that past and the present. Or at least he’ll try.

“That book is closed,” Durant said. “I’m looking forward now. All I’m focused on is how we prepare here and how we have fun here every day. It’s not a knock on Oklahoma City. It’s not a knock on my past teammates. I’m looking forward. I’m not looking backward.”