Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players of all time. He could retire right now and would still be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, not only because of his almost flawless résumé but also because of the impact he’s had on the court as one of the greatest scorers ever.
Durant has been turning heads for quite some time now. In fact, even former NBA star Stephon Marbury acknowledged that he knew that he was going to be special right when he saw him for the first time when he was in Texas University:
“I’ve never seen anybody like Kevin Durant. I remember watching Kevin Durant his first game in college when he was in Texas. And I called my brother and I was like ‘Yo, there’s this kid named Kevin Durant, he’s a freshman he won’t be there long.’ I said ‘he actually could leave right now.’ I said ‘when you put 10 or 15 pounds it would be over.’ He was like ‘Oh, I got to check him out.’ Checked him out, looked at him. He was like “Yo, this kid is off the hook. He’s crazy,'” Marbury said on Ball Don’t Stop.
“I’ve never seen anybody like Kevin Durant”
– Stephon Marbury says KD entered that Kobe/MJ airspace as far as being a master of his craft. pic.twitter.com/k5iKQ2YB8A
— Ball Don't Stop (@balldontstop) November 2, 2020
Marbury went on to laud Kevin Durant’s handles and shooting skills, claiming it’s something the league had never seen for a guy his height, and saying that he was right up there with Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan in terms of working on his craft:
“We’ve never seen a guy at 6’10” handle the ball the way how he handles the basketball. It’s literally point guard skills. Everything that he does from his cross, from his hezy, everything. The thing that separates is he can shoot. When you can shoot from that far out that sets up everything. There’s no going under pick’n’roll on him. It’s not even a thought… I think he’s definitely in that realm with those guys that understand how to play the game and the functionality of,” Marbury concluded.
It’s true that Durant has taken his game to a whole new level every year he’s been in the league. He’s got the smoothest jumper, guard-like handles, and can create separation over any other player in the world thanks to his length and size.
Durant is also an elite defender even though he doesn’t get credit for that part of his game. That’s just how much of an elite offensive player he is.
You may or may not like Kevin Durant as a person but you can’t deny that all the hard work he’s put in his game hasn’t paid off. He’s the only player on earth that you could argue that has no flaws in his bag.
