Kevin Durant’s Moment to Become Household Superstar Arrives at All-Star Weekend

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Kevin Durant’s Moment to Become Household Superstar Arrives at All-Star Weekend
SportingNews

This weekend, the NBA will celebrate its stars in Dallas, putting its best face forward in recognition of the ans of the game. It’s a time for joyous reflection on what these stars have given us over the years.

For a first-time All-Star, though, the game is a little different. In many cases, these players are appearing on a national stage for the first time. The All-Star Game is their chance to show their stuff in front of many eyes that haven’t seen them before, to prove that their previously faceless numbers are attached to exciting and marketable games and faces.

What I’m getting at, if you couldn’t tell by the picture above, is that this could be the weekend where Kevin Durant changes his public image from an underappreciated offensive genius into one of the league’s acknowledged superstars. After a historic first half—his streak of 25 consecutive games with 25 points or more is the longest since Allen Iverson’s did it 27 times in his MVP season of 2000-01—Durant is ready to bust out on the national scene.

Last year’s All-Star Weekend belonged to Durant, too, even though it was over by Saturday afternoon. In the Rookie Challenge, he set a scoring record with 46 effortless points and generally looked like someone who should have been playing on Sunday. Then, on Saturday, he took the inaugural H.O.R.S.E. compe ion with a display that, while not exactly thrilling, proved that he has a killer instinct that can’t be turned off for even the most frivolous of events (I can’t wait to see him in Shooting Stars after he retires). Last February, very few people outside of the most devoted League Pass subscribers had even seen Durant in more than a few games. When I tried to tell people last season that he was already one of the 10-best offensive players in the league, few believed me. His All-Star Weekend performance made people notice that he was developing at an alarmingly impressive rate in Oklahoma City.

The same dynamic is at play this weekend, just on a bigger stage. Everyone now acknowledges Durant’s greatness, but he still doesn’t have the cultural cachet of stars who couldn’t begin to put up the same kinds of numbers. The Thunder are getting attention as a likely playoff team, but they’re still relegated to Friday nights and NBA Fan Night appearances for national telecasts. At the All-Star Game, no one will be able to ignore Durant anymore. It’s a big stage that allows for players to prove they belong on the list of superstars, even if the game itself isn’t incredibly compe ive.

Conventional wisdom says first-time All-Stars aren’t able to make such a large impression, but Durant is an entirely unconventional player. As far back as the 2006 McDonald’s All-American Game, where he was co-MVP, Durant has relished the big stage, continually putting in clutch performances at Texas and hitting big shots as the go-to guy for a young NBA team. Plus, in the summer before his rookie year, Durant worked out with Team USA and was one of the best players on the floor during their televised summer scrimmage. Without having played a single NBA game, he looked like he deserved to be spoken of in the same breath as the biggest names in the game.

Durant’s legend will not find its full expression this weekend; that kind of success is reserved for the playoffs, when the big shots matter more and men are separated from boys, as the saying goes. But when his place on the list of the league’s greats is established, don’t be surprised to look back on these days as the moment when he became a widely acknowledged superstar. Durant hasn’t disappointed yet, and I see little reason to believe he’ll start now.

[duncan228]

Durant poised to join game’s elite stars
By Marc J. Spears

Kevin Durant ignored the text messages and phone calls. He didn’t search the Internet and he didn’t want his family and friends to tell him what they’d read. And if anyone with the Oklahoma City Thunder already knew the news, well, Durant had only one wish: Keep it to yourself.

Making your first NBA All-Star team is special and the 21-year-old Durant wanted it to stay that way. So he tuned into TNT and let Kenny, Charles and Ernie tell him themselves.

Kevin Durant, Western Conference All-Star reserve…

Durant flashed a wide smile upon hearing the announcement. Soon, his cousin and two friends were engulfing him in hugs. Yes, Kevin Durant’s wish had come true.

“It was like I was being drafted again,” Durant said. “It was surreal. …It was something that I had dreamed about since I was a little boy.”

Of the 28 players selected as All-Stars this season, nine will be making their first appearance. None of those nine, however, figure to return as frequently as Durant. Nor will it be long before Durant is regularly mentioned alongside LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony as one of the game’s most dominating stars.

A little more than halfway through his third NBA season, Durant has already made quite the impact. He’s averaging 29.8 points, a tenth of a point behind LeBron’s league-leading 29.9. He’s scored at least 25 points in 25 consecutive games, the fourth-longest streak in the past 30 years, and has already had four 40-point performances this season, including the career-high 45 he hung on the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 31.

A still-slender 6-foot-10, Durant has the versatility of a guard: He can shoot the 3-pointer, he can bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense and he can get to the rim, evidenced by the fact that no one in the league has shot more free throws this season. And the scary thing? No one really knows Durant’s ceiling. He should continue to only get better as he develops a stronger post game and improves defensively.

“He’s just coming on,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

More important, Durant has the Thunder riding a six-game winning streak into the All-Star break and sixth place in the Western Conference. What appeals just as much to the Thunder is Durant’s humbleness.

“One thing I can’t worry about is what people say good or bad,” he said. “All I can control is how I work every day. I have in faith in working hard. If I continue to work, I know I will grow as a player. That’s the only thing I can do. But if everything goes as planned, we’ll see.”

Durant also understands that as special as his All-Star appearance is to him, it means even more to his franchise. Just a season ago, the Thunder fired coach P.J. Carlesimo while in the midst of a 14-game losing streak in their first season in Oklahoma after moving from Seattle. The franchise went on to finish with fewer than 25 wins for the second straight year.

The TV networks took note. In spite of Durant’s impending s om and the development of two other promising young players – guard Russell Westbrook and forward Jeff Green – the Thunder didn’t land a single game on ABC or TNT and just one on ESPN.

That lack of exposure hasn’t stunted Oklahoma City’s success. Only the Cleveland Cavaliers entered the break on a longer win streak. The Thunder’s youth and entertaining style of play also has made them an increasingly popular team among fans.

“I hope our team is humbled,” Durant said. “The sky is the limit from here.”

Durant had hoped for the opportunity to play alongside Bryant on Sunday. Kobe’s work ethic is legendary among his peers, and Durant wanted to learn a thing or two from the Lakers star before he was scratched from the game because of a sore ankle.

Durant should eventually get his chance to play with Bryant. On the same day, Durant learned he had made the All-Star team, USA Basketball officials informed him he’ll also be included among the group of players who will compete for a roster spot in this summer’s World Championships. The announcement was only a formality: Everyone expects Durant to be an important piece of the Team USA this summer and in the future.

“I want to be a champion,” Durant said. “That’s what I want at the end of my name: ‘A champion.’ That’s what I want to be.”

All-Star or not, Durant has stayed true to his humble roots. He made the 2½ trip to Dallas from Oklahoma City with his teammates and Thunder officials in an RV. After this weekend, he could have a harder time keeping a low profile.

“A lot of people don’t know we have a team in Oklahoma City,” Durant said. “But once they say my name and see who we play for, hopefully people will realize that … we are a team to look out for.”