Kevin Durant still says he’s no superstar. No one agrees with him

Trey Kerby of Yahoo’s excellent Ball Don’t Lie had a tremendous piece today on Kevin Durant. It’s basically around 800 words of why we all love KD so, so much.

No other superstar would thank another player for wearing his signature shoes, but there’s Kevin Durant saying “I thank Amar’e [Stoudemire] for that” when asked about the Phoenix Suns big man’s preference for the Nike Zoom KD2. No other superstar views the Great Wall of China as “the toughest workout I ever did.” No one else in the NBA is picking Russell Westbrook  as their NBA Jam partner, but Durant does with the quickness, ostensibly because he’s “the most athletic player in the league,” but probably more because Durant values him as a teammate. It’s those little things — like being constantly in awe of the NBA, always trying to get better, nurturing teammates — that make Kevin Durant such an important player as the league enters its seventh decade.

Durant, it seems, approaches basketball the way us fans like to think we would — devoted to bettering himself, remaining humble despite clearly dominating and “not [taking] anything for granted because [playing in the NBA] is a dream come true.” Kevin Durant loves basketball more than anything besides winning (“I just want to win”), and that’s not always the case with young players. Sure, they might be able to do a couple of those things, but it’s pretty rare to put all three together.

KD goes on to say for the millionth time that he’s no superstar, just a guy playing basketball. He says he wants an Olympic gold more than an NBA title. He also says the only think he loves more than basketball is winning.

This is just story No. 597 in the building archives about how humble, likable and wonderful of a person Kevin Durant is. Yet, they never get old. When you read about what a prima donna LeBron has turned into and how other players are focused on their “brand” and becoming a global icon, it’s always refreshing to hear about how KD plays XBOX with neighbors, tweets about farting, thanks other players, respects other players, always speaks with his team in mind first and remains humble despite being a record-breaking player at the age of 21.

Never change KD. Never change.