Chances are your favorite player’s favorite player is Kevin Durant.
During the 1990s, everyone wanted to Be Like Mike, as the signature-shoe wearing, hoop-earringed, tongue-bearing Chicago Bulls legend dunked his way to basketball immortality.
5 Jordan transcended basketball in the ’90sCredit: Getty
Michael Jordan’s smooth moves, killer mentality, and signature style captivated the world, inspiring the next generation of basketball stars as the marketing muse became a billionaire businessman.
There’d be no Kobe Bryant or ‘Mamba Mentality’ without Jordan’s assassin-like persona first lighting up the NBA hardwood. Nor would there be the braid-rocking, tattoo-loving Allen Iverson who made his own unique contributions to early noughties’ style and swagger.
For many, that’s what makes Jordan the basketball GOAT.
LeBron James has the longevity and most of the records (including being the NBA’s all-time leading scorer), but very few modern players grew up wanting to be LeBron like they did MJ.
Maybe he’s too good. Maybe The King’s talents are so other-worldly, so incomprehensibly great, that trying to replicate his game is nothing more than an exhausting exercise in futility.
Despite LeBron tomahawk slamming his way to greatness over the past twenty years and Steph Curry splashing in threes from all over the court, it’s Durant who this TikTok generation of superstars grew up idolizing.
‘Be Like Kevin’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Air Jordan’s iconic 1991 Gatorade commercial.
But the unorthodox blueprint that the Slim Reaper has provided with his dizzying array of floaters, hesi moves, crossovers, fakes, and pull ups, which somehow come together to form one ridiculous 7-footer of a basketball player, is proof that for an increasingly taller wave of hoopers, being like Kevin might actually be the hottest ticket into the modern NBA.
One only has to look at the calibre of players KD has influenced.
Anthony Edwards, Victor Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who all have the chance to be the next face of The Association when Durant, LeBron and Curry eventually ride off into the sunset, have all stated that Durantula was their childhood hero.
5 Durant has had a profound impact on the new generation of starsCredit: Reuters
5 Giannis looked up to KD as a kidCredit: Getty
“KD, you’re one of the best scoring players to ever play this game,” ‘Greek Freak’ Antetokounmpo once said. “I respect your game. You’ve led by example for 15 years. You were my favorite player growing up and I respect your game.”
San Antonio Spurs phenom Wemby was just as enamoured with Durant when he was honing his deadly arsenal in France years ago.
In many ways, Durant was Wemby before Wemby, a skinny and somewhat lanky ‘unicorn’ offensive talent with the handles of a guard who can score at will.
The Phoenix Suns star was recently part of Team USA Basketball who beat Wemby’s France in the gold medal game at the Paris Olympics – the fourth Olympic gold of Durant’s career.
Durant saw Wembanyama crying on the bench afterwards and tried to console him, a moment that cemented his status as the Frenchman’s all-time favorite player.
“Clearly Kevin Durant is favorite player of my childhood. He became my favorite player and that moment happened after the game,” Wembanyama said.
“We congratulated each other, and made it clear that I wanted to learn from him, and perhaps steal a thing or two from his secret techniques.”
20-year-old Wembanyama had already made his feelings towards KD known last year.
“I like the fact that for years and years, nobody found a way to guard him really, consistently,” Wembanyama said. “This is probably the reason why he was one of my top favorite players ever.”
“It means I’m old,” Durant responded to being the reigning Rookie of the Year’s favorite player.
5 Wemby’s favorite player is DurantCredit: Getty
Then there’s Anthony Edwards, a premier scorer and supreme trash-talker who’s already been called the next Michael Jordan.
Ant Man’s game may look a lot like the six-time NBA champion’s, but it’s Durant who inspired him to become the player he is today.
“Well, I went to a game in Atlanta, and it was a Thunder game and Kevin was playing,” Edwards said on the first time he ever saw the former MVP. “And I watched him and I was like, ‘That’s my favorite player.'”
The braggadocious Minnesota Timberwolves wunderkid went one further during All-Star Weekend, calling Durant “my favorite player of all time”.
Edwards then bestowed the ultimate honor on Durant by saying he views the 14-time NBA All-Star as his “GOAT.”
“I’ve always been a fan [of] watching him play as a kid,” Edwards said. “He’s the first 7-footer that I’ve seen like putting the ball on the floor, scoring off the dribble so I’ve always been a big fan.”
Despite his admiration for the two-time Finals MVP, Edwards has never been afraid to go directly at his idol.
In Game 1 of the Western Conference first round last season, Ant Man drained a 3-pointer from the wing before barking and staring at a grinning Durant on the retreat up the court.
In Game 4 of the series sweep, Edwards met Durant at the rim and dunked on him after blowing by Bradley Beal.
“So impressed with Ant,” after Edwards and the T-Wolves dumped his Suns out of the playoffs by Edwards. “My favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league. His love for the game shines bright. That’s one of the reasons I like him the most. Love everything about Ant.”
5 Edwards has been likened to Michael JordanCredit: Getty
Edwards and KD’s unlikely bromance continued to blossom this summer when they both helped Team USA claim gold in the French capital.
Durant throwing Ant Man an alley-oop to slam down against France in the Olympics final was probably something Edwards once dreamed of as a child. Then it became a reality and now speculation continues to swirl that the Timberwolves front office could make an audacious attempt to pair them up both up in Minnesota.
At 35, Durant is now at a crossroads in his career.
His fit with the Suns doesn’t look right and he’s not a won a championship since 2018.
He also occupies a peculiar space in NBA circles; he’s seventh on the all-time scoring list and undoubtedly one of most dynamic and prolific offensive juggernauts in the history of basketball.
But there are also major question marks around his legacy after he jumped ship to the loaded 73-9 Golden State Warriors in 2016 in a move that was labelled the ‘weakest in NBA history’.
His inability to win without Curry has also led to suggestions he’s “a bus rider, not a bus driver” in the words of NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
Durant might be one of the most polarizing superstars of the modern era, but when all is said and done he will rightfully take his place among the pantheon of all-time greats as one of the most impactful players the game has ever seen.