NBA: Kevin Durant's 'Still The Best Quote' - Not A PR Stunt

Take a step back, the way Kevin Durant had to with his injury-filled 2014-15 season, and it makes sense. When so much of your world has escaped your control, you'd better keep both hands on the wheel to drive what you can forward.

And after all the medical debates and ongoing questions about his physical health, Durant is insistent on maintaining his mental health.

That means making the off-the-cuff statement to reporters last month in Las Vegas that "I feel like I'm the best player in the world. That's how confident I feel; that's how confident I am." Then last week in Spain, Durant said it again, via Ruptly TV: "Yes, I'm still the best player in the world."

NBA: Kevin Durant Won't Rush Back From Injury

Thunder forward Kevin Durant told reporters Tuesday he has "been antsy" since undergoing foot surgery last week. However, Durant cautioned that he has no intentions of returning sooner than the 6-8-week timeframe he was given.

"Nah, I'm not going to rush it all. That's one thing I'm not going to do," Durant said, per ESPN.

NBA: Injured Kevin Durant Undergoes Successful Surgery, Out For Six More Weeks

After discussing it for nearly a week, Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant finally underwent surgery at the OrthoCarolina Foot and Ankle Clinic in Charlotte, N.C., the team announced Thursday.

Durant will be re-evaluated in six weeks. Recovery time for the injury is supposed to be between six and 10 weeks, but that depends on how the fracture heals. These types of injuries are prone to re-fracture. Medical sources have indicated that blood flow can complicate healing in the bone, which is located three-quarters of an inch from the pinky toe.

UNBELIEVABLE!!! NBA Super Star Kevin Durant Offered Biggest Endorsement Deal Ever

Reigning NBA  most valuable player Kevin Durant has been offered one of the biggest sporting contracts ever. Under Armour reportedly tabled a monstrous $265-$285 million, 10-year shoe deal to the Oklahoma City star an estimated 10 per cent of the sporting apparel company’s annual marketing budget. An expert in the basketball shoe market, SportsOneSource analyst Matt Powell, described the offer as unprecedented.

“We haven’t seen an athlete get that kind of money in a long time for a shoe contract,” Powell told USA Today.

BASKETBALL: Kevin Durant Wins First MVP Award

Kevin Durant has plenty of scoring titles. Now he has an MVP trophy to go with them.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star won the NBA's top individual honor Tuesday, grabbing 119 first-place votes. Miami's LeBron James, who'd won the last two MVP awards and four of the previous five, finished a distant second with six first-place votes.

2014 NBA MVP Voting
Kevin Durant won his first NBA MVP Award in a landslide Tuesday, garnering 113 more first-place votes than LeBron James, who finished a distant second.

Blake Griffin was third, and Joakim Noah and James Harden rounded out the top five.

Messi-Ronaldo Rivalry Has Similarities With NBA` LeBron-Durant Rivalry

The clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid is always one of the biggest spectacles in the soccer universe. That drama has gone to another level in recent years thanks to the battle between the global superstars of each team. Some argue that the rivalry has transformed from Real vs. Barca into Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Lionel Messi, with the pair finishing one-two in a wide variety of categories and award ballots.

The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry bears a resemblance to another rivalry, one that has taken over the NBA during the same time: Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James.

NBA ALL STARS: East Beat West 163-155 As Kyrie Irving Wins MVP

From the first play to the final minute, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving made it clear how the East felt about this All-Star game.

Irving had 31 points and 14 assists and was voted the MVP, Carmelo Anthony made a record eight 3-pointers and scored 30 points, and the East stopped a three-game losing streak with a 163-155 victory over the West on Sunday night in the highest-scoring All-Star Game ever. Fed up with losing the midseason game and tired of the East being picked on for its mediocrity this season, James had a steal and dunk on the first possession, long before defense usually shows up in the All-Star Game.

"We wanted this win," James said. "They beat us the last three years and they had a lot of bragging rights, so to be able to come through being down 18 was huge."

KEVIN DURANT: Winning First MVP Will Mean A Lot

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant diverted Friday from his longstanding campaign to downplay any conversation about personal achievements by conceding in an interview with ESPN Radio that winning his first league MVP award would "mean a lot."

In a sit-down for ESPN Radio's "Meet The All-Stars" show, which airs Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, Durant took the rare step of allowing himself to imagine how it would feel to hold off heavy MVP favorite LeBron James over the last 30-plus games of the regular season and break through to win the game's most coveted individual honor for the first time.

THUNDER 107 LAKERS 103: Super Kevin Durant Scores 43 To Lift OKC Above LA

Kevin Durant scored 19 of his 43 points in the fourth quarter and the Oklahoma City Thunder sent the undermanned Los Angeles Lakers to a record-setting seventh straight home loss with a 107-103 victory on Thursday night.

The Thunder have a 1 1/2-game lead on Indiana for the NBA's best record. Their 43-12 mark has equaled the best start in the franchise's 47-year history, set by the 1995-96 Seattle Supersonics.

Chris Kaman and Wesley Johnson scored 19 points apiece for Los Angeles, and Kendall Marshall added 14 points and 17 assists. The Lakers have lost 22 of their last 27 games and are tied with Sacramento for last place in the Western Conference.

THUNDER 112 KNICKS 100: Kevin Durant Out Scores Carmelo Anthony 41-15

The showdown between the NBA's top two scorers turned out to be a mismatch. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant outscored New York's Carmelo Anthony 41-15, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New York Knicks 112-100 on Sunday.

Durant, the league's leading scorer, also had 10 rebounds and nine assists. Anthony, the league's No. 2 scorer, had 15 points on 5-for-19 shooting for the Knicks. Thunder coach Scott Brooks took Durant out of the game with 1:24 remaining, leaving Durant short of a rare 40-point triple-double by a single assist.

"I got on Serge (Ibaka)," Durant said, laughing. "He missed a dunk and he passed up a shot."

ORLANDO MAGIC 103 THUBNDER 102: Nigeria's Victor Oladipo Wins With Magic

The Orlando Magic have seen much more misery than celebration this season. But with one of the NBA's best teams and its top scorer in town, the Magic made the most of a rare opportunity to enjoy the latter.

Tobias Harris slammed home a fast-break pass from Maurice Harkless at the buzzer to give the Orlando Magic a 103-102 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. With the Thunder leading 102-101 in the closing seconds, Kevin Durant missed a jumper to set up the last-second play, which was reviewed by officials and upheld.

Rookie Victor Oladipo, who had grabbed the rebound on Durant's miss with 2.9 seconds left and passed ahead to Harkless to start the break, pounded his chest after the play and screamed "This is our floor!" as the crowd roared.

NBA: Kevin Durant Starts New 30 Point Streak As Thunders Beat Grizzlies

The Oklahoma City Thunder became familiar with Memphis' grind-it-out defensive style while losing to the Grizzlies during last season's NBA playoffs. On Monday night, the Thunder beat Memphis at its own game.

Kevin Durant had 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Serge Ibaka had 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder continued their home dominance, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 86-77. Durant returned to the 30-point threshold after being held to 26 points in his past two games, in a loss to the Wizards and a win over the Nets. He had previously scored 30 or more in 12 straight. Oklahoma City (39-11) had a 10-game winning streak snapped Saturday at Washington, but the Thunder moved to 21-3 at home while winning their seventh straight game at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

BASKETBALL: Watch Nigeria's Victor Oladipo Take On Kevin Durant

                                                                               Can Oladipo stop Durant???

OKC THUNDER vs BROOKLYN NETS: Kevin Durant Fails To Score More Than 30 Points

Durant's 30-point run ended at 12 games when he scored 26 in just 30 minutes, but the Oklahoma City Thunder won their 10th in a row with a 120-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

"That's the most important streak," Durant said.

Serge Ibaka made all 12 shots and added 25 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder, who were so good that Durant sat the entire fourth quarter, the only way to slow him down right now.
Durant came out with 1:15 left in the third quarter. Coach Scott Brooks didn't bother asking the NBA's leading scorer if he wanted to keep playing to extend the streak, saying he knew what the answer would be.

LEBRON JAMES: Kevin Durant Is Unstoppable

LeBron James says no one can guard Kevin Durant without help.

"Individually, he can't be stopped by any 1-on-1 player," James said. "There's nobody that can guard him 1-on-1." James, in a reversal from his pleas in previous seasons, also says he'd like to play more minutes.

"I'm not playing as many minutes as I would like but Spo is in control of that," James said Tuesday of coach Erik Spoelstra as the Heat prepared to face the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN). "I don't like playing less, I don't feel like I need to play less."

NBA: Kevin Durant Gets Triple-Double Against 76ers While Continuing 30-Point Streak

The Durant offensive juggernaut suffered a brief, one-game hiatus as the league's scoring leader sat out Oklahoma City's 101-83 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night with a sore shoulder. But Durant returned 24 hours later, just in time for the Thunder to stretch their winning streak to seven games with a 103-91 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

So how did Durant perform in his first game back from injury? Not bad...by Durant standards. He only scored 32 points, but made up for it with 14 rebounds and 10 assists, good for his second triple-double of the season.

Perhaps Durant felt more obliged to feed his teammates following their impressive win on Friday—the first game in franchise history played without both Durant and Russell Westbrook.

BASKETBALL: Kevin Durant keeps Rolling As OKC Tops Spurs For Third Time

Two of the NBA's best teams squared off in a highly anticipated bout Wednesday, when the Oklahoma City Thunder clashed with the San Antonio Spurs.

Kevin Durant continued his stellar play, powering the Thunder to their fifth straight win in a 111-105 victory. Durant totaled 36 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Reggie Jackson added 27 points and eight assists as OKC overtook San Antonio as the No. 1 team in the Western Conference.

MVP: It has become a formality at this point, but Kevin Durant had 36 points on just 22 shots, and down the stretch of a tight game, he and his teammates could not be stopped -- especially after Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard went down with a broken hand.