2014 NBA Top 20: #2 Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant

“I’ve been second my whole life. I was the second-best player in high school. I was the second pick in the draft. I’ve been second in the MVP voting three times. I came in second in the Finals. I’m tired of being second. I’m not going to settle for that. I’m done with it.”

Kevin Durant made headlines with his famous tirade on Sports Illustrated of how much he detests being a runner-up. Every competitive human being wants to be the absolute best at their craft, and Kevin Durant, blessed with basketball magic that can challenge the game’s greatest ever players, is inches away from that number one spot. But silver ain’t gold, and two is not a winner. Second-place is simply a fancier way of saying ‘best loser’.

There are few things that Kevin Durant cannot do on a basketball court. He is one of the greatest three-point shooters in the league, he led the league in scoring three years in a row before even turning 24, he carried an upstart young team to the NBA Finals and he is the primary reason why that team – despite an injury to Russell Westbrook and losses in the off-season – will again be a contender in the coming year. He rebounds, he defends, he creates, he attacks, he leads, and he scores. And he scores and scores and scores. In six short years in the league, he has been Rookie of the Year, a 4x All Star, a 4x member of the All-NBA First Team, a Western Conference champion, and finished second in MVP voting three times.

But no matter what he does, how much he improves, and how much he devastates, Durant’s career is now only being judged in comparison to the man winning MVP awards and NBA Championships ahead of him: LeBron James. No matter how good Durant gets, LeBron seems to be a step better. And Durant – in his own words – is tired of it. He’s done with it.

Unfortunately for him, we at SportsKeeda are predicting at least one more year with the silver medal in NBA rankings for the Oklahoma City superstar. Before Westbrook’s return, expect Durant to take more of a leadership role with the Thunder, helping to develop the team’s young talent and at the same time, being the sole consistent offensive contributor in the squad. Like last year’s playoffs showed, the Thunder will struggle to play at an elite level without their second-best player, but Durant is talented enough to keep them comfortable at least in the mid-tier of the Western Conference playoffs seeds. Once Westbrook does return to the squad, his assimilation back from the injury will be key in determining how this team progresses.

Individually, expect Durant to keep scratching the surface of history, to break shooting records, to once again challenge for the scoring title, the MVP title, and once again be an All Star and an All NBA calibre star. Just turned 25, Durant already has half a dozen years of NBA experience under his belt and has now suffered most of the emotional highs and lows that shape the character of an NBA legend. He’ll be more mature than ever mentally and a step better than he was last year physically. He’ll play the best basketball that he has ever played. No basketball player in the entire world will be better than him.

Except one.

Second place to one of the greatest ever players isn’t too bad. But LeBron’s lead at the head of the pack is far from secured: one missed step, or a half a second of hesitation, and a younger and hungrier Durant will race ahead in an instant.

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