Marcus Thompson - KD: Kevin Durant’s Relentless Pursuit to Be the Greatest

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To the people from my neighborhood, Sobrante Park in East Oakland, and every hood like it in this country, who believed strongly enough and worked hard enough to excel despite the shackles and trauma of poverty you inherited. What you pulled off was indeed amazing.

KEVIN DURANTS SIGNIFICANCE had reached a ceiling.

While he had as much name recognition as any current player outside of LeBron James, his connectivity to the NBA fan base always had a limitation. Durant was a good guy, and good guys dont always move the needle so strongly. His physical frame seemed to stretch to the heavens but the packaging of his personality came off as inconsequential. Even though he was from Chocolate City, having spent most of his time in the spotlight in midtier marketsspecifically Austin, Texas, and Oklahoma CityDurant was lacquered in small-town sauce.

He was birthed by a metropolis, a product of the D.C. area, and was no doubt a phenom of a player. His game was a gift, with fluidity and drive that paired perfectly with his gangly frame. Durant entered the league at a time when the celebrity of NBA players was peaking. Allen Iversons career was winding down, Kobe Bryant was in his prime, and LeBron James was the obvious next star on deck. The three of them took the baton from Michael Jordan and carried NBA superstardom further into mainstream culture. Their lives, their personalities, their dramas became as much a part of the packaging as their dominance on the court. Durant had the game, but he didnt have the illustriousness to draw fervent loyalty from the masses. He had the personality of a midrange jumperrespectable, effective, reliable even, but so unremarkable as to be negligible.

But overnight that changed, and he became the source of historic drama and a lightning rod after making one of the most controversial free-agent decisions in the history of the NBA. His next era would be defined by new polarizing heights of fame.

Durant had played eight seasons in Oklahoma City, nine seasons with the franchise all told, including his rookie year in Seattle before the Sonics were moved to Oklahoma. That was the same amount of time LeBron James had put in with Cleveland the first time around. Durant signed his rookie contract extension in 2010, for five years and $89 million, without even testing the free agency market. Hed given the Thunder more than enough. Six weeks after the Golden State Warriors knocked Oklahoma City out of the 2016 playoffs, Durant joined them. And overnight he went from humble superstar to a controversial figure who the league is still trying to figure out.

Im just not built like that, former Boston Celtics star and future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce said on the ESPN television show The Jump . Im not a guy who goes into the neighborhood, gets beat up by the bullys gang, and then now I want to join your gang. Thats just not me. I want to fight. Lets go. Im gonna stand up for myself.

Watching Durant, it was always clear he was something special: a point guard on stilts, a center with the fluidity of a shooting guard, the essence of a 1970s scorer in the body of a 2000s stretch-five. Still, his aw-shucks veneer presented him as too simple to investigate. He was harmless, immensely likable, yet lacking the texture that inspired fervor. But when he decided to leave OKC and sign with Golden State, all that was stripped away and the world saw the real KD. Still a once-in-a-generation player, but hungry, passionate, and very human.

Long gone was the media adulation and admiration that wrapped its arms around Durant as he spoke lovingly about his mother being the real MVP. He lost his glow as the antithesis to the entitled, diva athlete. With one decision he was exponentially more significant. And Durant had to exist in his new skin. A skin that would need to thicken overnight.

Hall of Famer Charles Barkley on Durant: Kevin is a terrific player, hes a good kid. But [Im] just disappointed with the fact that he weakened another team and hes gonna kind of gravy train on a terrific Warriors team. Just disappointed from a competitive standpoint. Because just like it meant more to LeBron to win one in Cleveland, it would mean more to Kevin to win one in Oklahoma than it would be in Golden State.

Stephen A. Smith, the popular ESPN analyst who hosts the First Take debate show athletes watch faithfully, called it the weakest move hes ever seen from a superstar: Kevin Durant is one of the top three players in the world. And he ran away from the challenge that he faces in order to jump on the bandwagon of a team thats a little bit better.

Durant was no longer the humble superstar.

He announced his free agency plan to join the Warriors via a letter he wrote on the Players Tribune . It featured a now-famous black-and-white image of Durant in a sleeveless white T-shirt surrounded by trees, the most serene of expressions on his face. The headline read: My Next Chapter, and he looked like one who was at peace with his move. But the ensuing days brought only agony as his decision set off a national controversy.

Durants first time addressing the media since his earlier decision to join the Warriors was at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he was taking part in the Team USA training camp in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He was still processing the sports worlds reaction.

The two days after I didnt leave my bed because if I walk outside somebody might try to hit me with their car or say anything negative to me. I thought people would react to me a little differently. I never had this much attention, Durant told reporters. I just stayed in and tried to process it all. I wanted to be around family and positive support. It felt different, obviously. I had been somewhere for so long and made a change no one saw coming and didnt think I would do. Of course I didnt know how it would be received afterward. But at some point I said, Life goes on, and I cant hide forever. So I had to face it.

Durant was now on the other side of the initial storm. His vibe was so smooth and unbothered that hed even gotten a tattoo during the camp.

He had worn blue sleeves over his calves for two days at camp, an accessory also worn by Carmelo Anthony and a few others. But on Day 4 of camp, Durants legs were bare beneath a pair of gray shorts. A sheet of plastic clung to the left side of his left leg, on the expanse between his knee and his ankle. Beneath the Saran wrap was a glimpse into the depth that was before hidden. Durant could have worn pants to this practice. Even with the heat, Nike assuredly had some Dri-Fit sweats to keep him cool yet covered. Instead, Durant wanted to reveal his new tattoo, or at least wasnt interested in hiding it. And with the peek at his new artwork, a portrait of slain rapper and actor 2Pac, Durant gave a glimpse behind the veneer of himself.