Durant has often been compared to George Gervin. But he has spent a lot of time watching game film of Larry Bird.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) and guard Russell Westbrook (0) react after Westbrook blocked a shot by Houston Rockets guard James Harden in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012.
Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant has often been compared to George Gervin, largely because they share a similar frame and propensity for scoring smoothly and in bunches.
But for a long time, Durant has modeled his game after somebody else's.
"Larry Bird is a guy I like watching," Durant told USA Today, referring to the Boston Celtics legend. "I watch film on him all the time. I like his approach to the game when he was playing. When I first started playing the game, my Godfather Taras Brown – who taught me how to play – he always was a Larry Bird guy, always used to look up his stats."
Durant said there are a lot of reasons why he appreciates Bird.
"So of course as I got older and started to watch NBATV, Legends games, and of course you hear the stories about the rivalries with him and the Lakers and him and Magic, so I like his competitiveness, how low-maintenance he was, how he just went out there and did his job," Durant said. "He played hard. He played for the love of the game, and that's what I've got."