Kevin Durant MVP Is Also The Best Teammate! Thunder Forward Nick Collison Has Heartfelt Tribute!
Kevin Durant became the most-loved athlete in America after his tender and emotional speech after winning the NBA Most Valuable Player. OKC Thunder forward Nick Collison shares that the feels are just starting.
Durant is not your typical NBA superstar. There's no swagger off the court, no bar fights and despite a photo showing him smoking what is apparently weed, he's never had an incident with the law (that was in Colorado).
While the Most Valuable Player award is based on his performance on the court, his teammates would attest that he's also an awesome teammate in the locker room.
Nick Collison has spent his entire career with the Thunder, ever since they were in Seattle and named the Sonics. Durant came on board in 2007, being the 2nd overall draft pick. Collison has praised Durant as the best teammate. Excerpts from his Sports Illustrated piece attest to that:
Thunder leader and first-time MVP this season.
When I first met Kevin Durant, during the team's last year in Seattle, he was very shy and quiet. "A real nice kid" is how I'd describe him. And he was very open. Basketball-wise, he would do anything anyone wanted him to do.
Still, what stuck out to me was that he just really wanted to be a basketball player. Some guys come into the league and have these ideas about what they want to do off the court -- to be businessmen and all that. Kevin was all about basketball. He was most comfortable in the gym. He just loved to play ball.
Kevin is not in a different category than anyone else, either. He allows guys to make suggestions. If I feel like he's floating a bit in a game or down a bit about a bad start, I can get in his ear and say, "You gotta get in a stance," or "You gotta pick us up." And he'll listen and be open-minded, rather than reacting with the attitude that I'm the MVP, and you're a role player.
Thirty years from now, what I'll remember most about Kevin is how he treated people. Because his world is really crazy. He can't go anywhere without people coming up to him. Everybody wants something. It would almost be understandable for him to not have a good feel for how to deal with people. But he's managed to stay true to who he was on that first day I met him seven years ago. He's still respectful. What you see is who he is. Everybody who works for the Thunder, he works with them, they don't work for him. We're all peers.
I've got a ton of respect for Kevin Durant. It's really been an honor to play with him."
There's no better judge of your character than those you go to war with. Collison has been there since Durant's Day One. He really does not need to write something like this to be in Durant's favor. But some stories are meant to be told, and even an MVP award would not give justice to the greatness of Kevin Durant.