photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Bill Self applauds his team during the second half, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015 at Allen Fieldhouse.

On a day when the 2017 NBA title was pared down to a race between two teams — Golden State and Cleveland — the constant radar tracking whether Kansas basketball coach Bill Self one day could jump to the NBA himself may have been trimmed to one team.

Kevin Durant is headed to Golden State and Bill Self isn’t going anywhere. Those are the facts as we know them today.

But when the Self-to-the-NBA chatter has popped up during the past decade, two teams have been the most commonly mentioned, even if the speculation always was a bit ridiculous.

Those two teams? San Antonio and Oklahoma City. You likely know the reasons why.

San Antonio, which, just a couple of years ago was considered the class of the league, is run by Self’s good buddy R.C. Buford. The opportunity to one day work for a close friend while taking a stab at coaching basketball at the highest level certainly sounds appealing and brings some comfort with it.

Oklahoma City always earned Self’s admiration because of the presence of Durant and Russell Westbrook — arguably two of the top 5 players in the league — along with its location in Self’s home state and the fact that the vibe inside the Thunder’s arena was, according to Self, the closest thing to a college atmosphere the NBA had to offer.

Outside of those two franchises, it’s hard to imagine Self being wooed away by any other opportunity. And today, it’s even harder to imagine than it was Sunday night.

The NBA landscape changed dramatically on Monday, but don’t get carried away and start wondering if Self ever would want to coach the Warriors. Who wouldn’t? But that will only happen over Steve Kerr’s broken clipboard.

As the years have gone on, we’ve learned that Self has fielded a handful of vague inquiries from a few other pro teams. Cleveland, the Los Angeles Lakers and, most recently, Houston, all have kicked the tires on the idea of gauging Self’s interest in making the jump. But nothing even remotely real ever came of those situations and Self has gone on record as saying he believes his job at Kansas is better than the majority of the NBA jobs.

Money isn’t a factor. Self currently makes $3.9 million per year and, after signing an extension in 2012, is on pace to make $53 million over a 10-year period through the 2021-22 season. There’s no doubt that Kansas happily would up the ante to keep Self if it came to that.

Beyond that, decisions like the one made by Durant on Monday surely make staying in the college game even more appealing. Look no further for proof of that than the current plight of former Florida coach Billy Donovan, who, in Year 1 with the Thunder, guided them to the doorstep of the NBA Finals and now is forced to move forward without Durant on the roster. Money’s nice and the challenge can be inviting. But I’m guessing Donovan didn’t think trying to win without Durant was even a possibility when he took the OKC job 14 months ago.

Recruiting’s a bear and can wear college coaches down. Free agency can make them think of retiring altogether.

So that leaves San Antonio and that’s why Gregg Popovich’s status — and relative happiness — in San Antonio remains the biggest factor outside of Lawrence that Jayhawk fans are keeping a close eye on.

The day Popovich retires will mark the beginning of an uneasy time in Lawrence. But better for Jayhawk fans to sweat out just one NBA franchise’s coaching situation than two.

Durant is gone, Oklahoma City is rebuilding and life at KU is better than ever for Self.

He still has championships to win here — be they of the Big 12 or NCAA Tournament variety — and certainly seems to be in a better position as the king of Kansas than he would be in the NBA, where all-world egos, meddling owners and, yes, free agency, often bring more headaches than they’re worth.