Kevin Durant is one of the best players in the game. But even he was once another prospect, watching other great basketball players and taking bits and pieces from their style to add to his game.
A lot of young players, such as Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram have talked about trying to mimic Kevin Durant’s playstyle. Kevin Durant is now the player that others try to imitate.
On a recent episode of the Knuckleheads podcast, Kevin Durant revealed what it was like to have other players implement parts of his game into their own skillset. Durant joked about it, claiming that sometimes the feeling is bittersweet, as that signifies him getting older.
Whenever I see guys like… Dermarr Johnson, Jonathan Bender, even early Jermaine O’Neal, KG was in there, Rasheed Wallace was in the wiry frame, who was skilled, Tayshaun Prince. So I was looking at a lot of those dudes and trying to implement what they was doing with my own unique twist… so guys coming up after me are doing the same.
To see other guys say, ‘Yo, I watched you when I was young!’, I was that same kid telling somebody ‘Yo, I watched you when I was young!’ Sometimes it’s bittersweet, cause I’m like ‘Sh*t, I’m getting older’.
There is no question that Kevin Durant is one of the generational talents of our basketball era, and his resume speaks for itself. He is an MVP and a two-time champion and Finals MVP, as well as probably the best three-level creator in modern basketball.
Kevin Durant isn’t yet finished with his basketball career, and it will be interesting to see what he can accomplish in the future. He could yet add to his legacy, and even if he doesn’t win another championship, he’ll still be an extremely iconic player for the next generation of hoopers.
