DURANT, Okla. — Kelly Green, the men’s basketball coach at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, battles relative obscurity by using all the tools at his disposal. Until recently, Green highlighted the campus’s unique geography to sell out-of-state prospects on his Division II program.

“We’re in the city of Durant,” Green would tell recruits, “like Kevin Durant.”

Green felt much more comfortable using this tangential connection back when Kevin Durant was still playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But those ties disappeared when Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors in free agency over the summer, forcing Green to scrap his pitch.

“When Kevin left, I was like, ‘Well, now what do I say?’” Green said. “He really screwed up my spiel.”

The grief over Durant (the player) is palpable in Durant (the city), a quiet community of about 17,000 people about 150 miles southeast of Oklahoma City that has, in small ways, paid the price for pure coincidence. One teenager sought retribution by campaigning to change the name of the city to Westbrook. Basketball players at Durant Middle School hear the occasional barbs from opponents.