Suns’ Kevin Durant Gets Honest On His NBA Career: ‘This Is What I Wanted To Be’

Phoenix Suns small forward Kevin Durant is one of the best players in NBA history and he’s not surprised since this is what he envisioned.

“I would’ve believed it, for sure,’’ Durant said, via Doug Haller of The Athletic. “That’s what I envisioned. This is what I wanted to be as a young player. You look up to guys who played a long time in the league. The Kobe Bryants. The KGs. The Paul Pierces. Those guys that have been 15-plus years in the league, you see that as a young player. You want to emulate that. Vince Carter. LeBron James. All of those guys you want to emulate. That’s the goal for me. Being around for as long as possible.”

Durant has career NBA averages of 27.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Suns. The Texas product has won two championships, two Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP and four scoring titles.

A future Hall of Famer, Durant has made 13 All-Star teams and 10 All-NBA teams. He’s fourth in NBA history in points per game and 13th in points. Durant averaged 29.1 points with the Nets and Suns last season. He requested a trade from Brooklyn and was traded to Phoenix on February 9.

“I don’t know that I can give you keys or like any secret potion or magic that happened, it just happened,” Durant said. “I guess just being enthusiastic about the game every day and wanting to get better. That just forces you to get in the gym. It’s as simple as that. What you do the most is what you’re going to be the best at. If you don’t use it, you lose it. That’s how I kind of look at it.”