When Rex Kalamian’s phone buzzed one day in August, the Toronto Raptors assistant coach wasn’t surprised to see a text from Kevin Durant.

The two had bonded in Kalamian’s six seasons as an assistant with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The two have stayed in touch in the year since Kalamian made the move to Toronto, and since Durant made his bold move to the Golden State Warriors this summer. The content of Durant’s text did surprise the coach that day, though.

“Your two guys are the best. I’m jealous of their relationship, the way they get along with each other and the way they play together. The way they enjoy each other, it’s great,” Kalamian said of that text on Monday, as the Raptors finished up their practice. Durant, all the way from the Olympics in Rio, was in awe of the friendship that Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had on display with the U.S. men’s basketball team.

“I think it’s kind of what he wants,” Kalamian continued. “He wants that bond with someone . . . and I think he’s going to find that.

“Early on in OKC, we had that.”

The duo of Durant and Russell Westbrook is splintered now, with each player driving two of this season’s major storylines. Durant begins his season Tuesday night in his new home at Oracle Arena, while Westbrook and the Thunder start their new journey on Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Kalamian, like many others, will be glued to his TV Tuesday night to see Durant’s new beginning.

“I think he’ll do very well in terms of integrating. I don’t think he’ll be too passive,” Kalamian said.

“He’s got to be himself. I think he’s going to be himself and it sounds like they’re in love with him already, obviously, they wanted him there and they know what he brings. They know he shoots the ball 22 times a game. The guys that wanted him there are the people that are saying, ‘We’ll take a little less, come on in and we’ll figure it out together.’ I’m sure he feels very comfortable.”

The Thunder won’t be the same 55-win team that they were last year —“They’re not going to be better by losing Kevin Durant,” Kalamian said — but Westbrook, who signed a three-year, $85-million (U.S.) contract extension with the Thunder a month after Durant left, is poised for a tremendous year.

“I was never around (Michael) Jordan but I was around Kevin Garnett and he had a high intensity, a game-night approach to practice and Russell was right there with him, if not surpassing K.G.,” he said, remembering the 2014-15 season when Durant played 27 games and was sidelined with a foot injury. Westbrook averaged 28 points, 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game that year.

“I don’t put anything past Russell Westbrook because he’s the most unique player in the NBA,” Kalamian said. “He’s the most competitive player in the NBA, and the most forceful player in the NBA. I don’t think there’s anybody that you can say is more unique, competitive or forceful than him and it translates.”

Both players are among the NBA’s most talented, but that bond that Durant is after had been gone for some time. It disappeared at the start of the 2012-13 season when the Thunder traded James Harden to Houston.

“We had that (bond) really with James Harden. He was a connector of everyone. He brought Westbrook, Durant and (Serge) Ibaka and they all kind of connected, they all came together,” Kalamian said.

“James is a big reason and when he left I think Kevin said . . . that trade was the beginning of the end for him and now there wasn’t that connection as much.

“Kevin and Russell, they respect the heck out of each other, no question about it. They played well together, they work well together, they communicate, but I think the connection was lost a little bit for whatever reason.”

Despite the high expectations on the Warriors, Kalamian thinks it will take the group some time to come together.

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“They’re going to have some rough spots I think, getting to know each other and figuring out how to win games and who takes shots and how they close out games,” he said.

“They may lose a few close games. Who knows? I don’t anticipate that they’re going to jump out (to last year’s 24-0 start) but they obviously have an embarrassing amount of talent.”