In one season of playing college basketball at the University of Texas, forward Kevin Durant proved himself as a dominant player as he averaged 25.8 points per game and he was selected as the National Consensus Player of the Year in 2007. The Seattle Supersonics used the second pick of the 2007 NBA Draft on Durant. As a rookie in the NBA, Durant would go on to average 20.3 points per game as he was named as the NBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2007-2008 NBA season. After one season in Seattle the franchised relocated to the Midwest and became the Oklahoma City Thunder which has not hindered Durant’s game as he has improved in every season.
Through six-plus seasons in the NBA, Durant is averaging 26.7 points per game. Durant’s 13,174 career points are already the third most in Sonics/Thunder franchise history and by the end of the 2015-2016 NBA season he should be the franchise’s all time leader in scoring.
At 6’9″, Durant has the length of a power forward, but he has the scoring ability of a shooting guard. Durant is currently averaging 28.6 points per game this season which leads the NBA. If Durant is able to finish the season as the league’s top scorer it would mark the fourth time for his brief career that he has been the NBA’s top scorer.
To understand Durant’s dominance as a scorer you have to go back to February 27, 2009 which was the last game that he was held in single-digits for scoring. Durant only scored 6 points in a 110-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks that day, but he only played for 8 minutes as he left the game due to injury. The last time that Durant was held to single-digits in a game in which he played at least 20 minutes was January 7, 2009 in a 127-89 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
At just 25-years of age Durant is more than capable of putting the Thunder on his back. Thunder guard Russell Westbrook suffered a knee injury that has kept him out of action since Christmas Day. At 21.3 points per game Westbrook is the Thunder’s second leading scorer and he is also Durant’s sidekick. But Westbrook’s absence in the Thunder lineup hasn’t slowed Durant down. On December 27, Durant scored 34 points and 12 rebounds in an 89-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. Durant followed this on December 27 with 33 points and 13 boards in a 117-86 victory over the Houston Rockets. Finally on New Year’s Eve, Durant chimed in with 37 and 14 rebounds in a 98-94 loss to the Portland Trailblazers who are the Thunder’s main competition in the Northwest Division. In the Thunder’s last game which was a 95-93 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Durant was able to score 24 points.
As I previously mentioned Durant is only 25-years of age and he is only going to get better. The other amazing aspect of Durant’s game is that for a jump shooter he does not take a ton of shots. Durant has averaged 18.8 shots per game for his career to go along with a .476 career field goal percentage as he is efficient with the basketball in his hands.
Durant is already a four-time NBA All-Star and he was a member of the United States Men’s Olympic Basketball Team that took home the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2011, Durant helped the Thunder advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since relocating to Oklahoma City, but they were unable to get past the Miami Heat. With Durant, the Thunder are always a perennial playoff team, but it is just a matter of breaking through the tough Western Conference.
Durant has done everything on an individual level and it will only be a matter of time when he completely cements his legacy with an NBA Championship.
Source: Basketball-reference.com
Leave A Comment