Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

OKLAHOMA CITY — Dave Osborn is no dummy.

So when the proprietor of Mahogany Steakhouse in downtown Oklahoma City heard that the Thunder’s prodigal son, Kevin Durant, wanted to rent out his restaurant after his first return with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, it didn’t take Osborn long to respectfully decline.

“We thought about it,” Osborn told USA TODAY Sports while sitting inside his restaurant on Saturday afternoon. “But we were like, ‘No, a lot of our Thunder players and fans come in after the game.’ So we said no, and then 15 or 20 minutes later they called back.

“And he said, ‘Well, I talked to Kevin and he said that the Thunder players could come in if we booked out the restaurant.’ And we just said no again, because once again all the Thunder players come in and we don’t really want them to be upset. And in the long run, I think we lose business. We just wanted to stay true to our fans and our players and not book out the restaurant for one night.”

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Such is life when you’re neighbors with the only pro sports team in town.

Yet not only is the steakhouse just down the street from the Thunder’s basketball home and a place where Durant himself used to routinely visit when he played here, it’s a favorite spot of current Thunder players after home games. There’s an all-glass private room in the front that is always unofficially reserved for Thunder star Russell Westbrook and his people on game nights, and another room for Thunder guard Victor Oladipo crowd and his friends or family.

Even if they’re no-shows.

“They just know that’s open for them,” Osborn said. “They don’t have to call us or anything. They can just come in. There’s nights they come in, and nights they (don’t).”

This steakhouse story first came to light on Friday night, when ESPN’s Steve Levy shared it via Twitter. Yet minutes later, Durant’s business manager, Rich Kleiman, retweeted Levy and deemed the story "False."

Still, Osborn claims it to be true.

“They said they’d spend anywhere from $30,000 to $35,000, when they come and book out the restaurant, is what was told to me,” he said. “At the end of the day, it wasn’t (personal), just taking care of our people. I can’t shut down for that, and then we’ll have 100 or something people in here after the game, and to turn them away I don’t want to do that.”

Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.