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There is a guy in the league who might be the best player in the game and no one is talking about him. It might be because Kevin Durant, the leagues current scoring champion, wants it that way. He’s one of the more low profile superstars you will ever see. He doesn’t have his face plastered all over the bill boards. He isn’t living it up in South Beach with his minions. He’s in Oklahoma, working hard at practice, trying to be the best player he can be, and the best teammate he can. What is unique about Durants game is he is as unselfish as he is committed to scoring points. It’s often the case, like with Allen Iverson, that a scoring champion thinks about the hoop first and the dish second. For Durant it seems to be a pretty equal split, and that is something he has evolved into.

In the beginning Durant had to prove himself. Unlike Lebron, who was anointed as the successor to Michael Jordan’s throne, Durant was a little less sure of his place. Well, maybe he wasn’t but the league was. They weren’t sure if they were getting a little big Magic mixed with Michael or if they were getting the next Glenn Robinson: a guy who can shoot the rock but couldn’t dream of doing much else. It turned out that Durant was far better than anyone was ready for and the Thunder seem poised to be big players in the West for some time. This summer Durant signed an extension for the next 5 years. He wanted the world to know that loyalty counted. And he didn’t need a primetime special to get the world to notice him. They were already doing that and soon he’ll have everyone’s attention.