Born To Ball: Kevin Durant's Ascent to the NBA's Elite

Only three years ago, this young man, with the perilously thin limbs and fluorescent smile, traded in his Longhorn burnt orange for the dying shade of Sonic green.

After paying his dues for one year at Texas, Durant entered the 2007 NBA Draft as the best player on the board. If it hadn’t been for Greg Oden and basketball’s infatuation with taking risks on potentially great big men, Durant would have found his way to Portland as the No. 1 overall pick.

As a freshman in college, Durant proved to all NBA executives that he could score. That’s what 20 to 30-point games will do as an 18-year-old playing against some of the most experienced competition in the country.

But can Durant do anything other than score? Can he handle the ball? Can he pass? Can he play in the post? Does he have the size and strength to handle the physicality of the NBA and the grueling season? Is he quick enough to defend the world’s best basketball players on the perimeter? Does he possess the appropriate personality to lead? Does he have the maturity and desire to take a listless franchise and make it a winner at a young age?

These were all valid questions after Durant wrapped up his lone campaign in Austin. Maybe the problem was the world simply hadn’t seen enough of him. Whatever the case, scouts knew that you could pencil in 20 points, 10 rebounds, and good defense from Oden every night if he stayed healthy. Franchise centers don’t fool you. You know one when you see one.

As the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled into the Staples Center Tuesday evening to take on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, a lot has changed in a short period of time.

The green jersey faded away as did the Seattle franchise and Durant immediately became the face of the Thunder. But becoming the biggest basketball star in a part of the country crazy for college football was a dubious honor. Basketball careers don’t usually blossom in the flatlands.

Except this wasn’t the same toothpick that we saw at the University of Texas. This wasn’t the same player that waited until the final game of his rookie season to record his first career double-double. Simply put, this wasn’t some boy lugging his teenage body out to the playground for pickup hoops anymore.

Young boys don’t jog into Hollywood wearing $70 million jet-black Nikes and immediately command the spotlight. Not in a town where Kobe Bryant routinely dazzles and celebrities more famous than basketball players pile into the arena for a little TMZ time.

Durant skipped through pregame warm-ups, sweatpants unfastened at the ankle, like a metronome beating at its familiar tick. Forget about the bright lights of L.A. or awestruck eyes. Stars expect the festivities to be heightened when they are in town.

After exchanging high-fives and chest bumps with each teammate and coach, Durant proceeded to center court. How do you do, Mr. Bryant? How do you do, Mr. Gasol? And so on.

The Thunder currently trail the Utah Jazz by two games for eighth place in the Western Conference, but the Lakers came out flat after enduring a five-game road trip across the country that featured two different sets of back-to-back games.

With Durant and Jeff Green on the wings, Thabo Sefolosha running in the backcourt, and Russell Westbrook pushing the ball up the floor as the point, the Thunder suddenly possess one of the most explosive starting lineups in basketball.

However, this isn’t the first young, talented team we have come across in the NBA. There is a reason why the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and other teams of that ilk took so much time to get off the ground. Young teams often resemble second-graders during arts and crafts. Before you know it, you have a lot of pieces to play with but all of the glue is on your hands.

Teams need a force to hold them together, and I’m not talking about a coach. A coach can’t set the tempo of the offense or be reliable on defense.

Oh, Durant can still score. He dropped 30 on the defending champions while playing most of the second half in foul trouble.

But this ain’t the All-Star Game. Durant is about winning, and he was born to do it. It’s obvious. Watch the way he soars to haul in a rebound before pushing the ball up the floor and lead Green for a breakaway dunk. Watch how he backs down the heavier Ron Artest for two dribbles before spinning away and splashing a 15-footer with grace.

See how he takes Gasol to the paint before dishing the ball to Westbrook in the corner for the easiest three you’ve seen since your days at the YMCA. See what he does when Andrew Bynum steps out on the perimeter to take him one-on-one. Don’t blink. A jab step and crossover later, and No. 35 is tearing down the rim.

Witness the respect Bryant shows him as he tells Artest in the fourth quarter, “I’ll take Durant.” Oh, that three-ball over Bryant? This is simply Durant’s idea of fun.

The Lakers prevailed on this night, 111-108, but the NBA’s next big superstar took another step toward joining the league’s elite. It’s not simply the gaudy numbers that Durant puts up night after night; it’s the way he glides around the floor and makes his teammates better.

Durant encouraged Westbrook to go after Kobe on the defensive end. By the end of the third quarter, Westbrook and Bryant had to be pulled together at midcourt just to make sure the bumping and banging wouldn’t amount to anything more than physical basketball.

Both of them laughed. Just a future Hall of Famer and a young buck getting after each other.

The Thunder are going to be a tough team to play in the coming years. If they add a true center to the mix, they will become a must-watch on a nightly basis. They will be scary good and will be a legitimate power in the West.

As I sat above half court and watched Bryant and Durant guard each other in the fourth quarter, I reflected on the type of player Kobe molded himself into over the last decade. He went through the tantrums and the hiccups to become a champion. With four rings to his name, Bryant is still reinventing his game with new and improved post moves (courtesy of a summer spent under Hakeem Olajuwon’s tutelage).

And then I zoomed in on Durant, and the magnificence of it all struck me.

Durant is in his third season in the league, and his leadership and desire to win are palpable. Teammates respond to him. Opponents are weary of him. There is no me-first ball hog in the guy. In that regard, Durant is about 10 years ahead of Kobe’s development pattern.

No, Durant hasn’t won a ring, hasn’t made an All-Star team, hasn’t won a scoring title, hasn’t really accomplished anything that Bryant has accomplished. But Bryant’s accolades came only after he learned how to be a winner. No historic palace is built on Styrofoam. 

Where Durant’s career leads remains to be seen, but he is clawing at the door of greatness and the results could be legendary.

On a crisp, blustery night in downtown, Los Angeles pulled up a chair and warmed the family room for Durant’s arrival. In Kobe’s house, no less.

This wasn’t a birth of a star; that came and went years ago. This was merely the natural growth of an incredibly gifted man who gets what basketball is all about. 

You can reach Teddy Mitrosilis at [e-mail].