NBA star Kevin Durant had an advantage when he entered the league in 2007. He was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics with the second pick behind Greg Oden (Portland Trail Blazers). It was no surprise when Durant won the Rookie of the Year on the way to becoming a two-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medal winner and future of Hall of Famer.
It all started in Seattle when he was mentored by legend George Gervin.
“The NBA had a mentoring program early on in his career when he was with Seattle," Gervin told Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson. "I went up there a few times and sat with him, ate dinner, talked to him, talked with him about basketball and also did it with him when he was down there in OKC, you know? So I had a personal relationship with KD."
Gervin, who is also in the Hall of Famer, was one of the league's top scorers during his day. After a solid ABA career, he shined with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged at least 25 points in seven seasons.
Gervin sees a lot of himself in Durant, also an elite scorer.
"People would always ask, Man, who reminds you of you? And I say, ‘He does in a sense because of the effectiveness in scoring.,"' Gervin said. "But I tell ‘em, ‘He doesn’t score like ME!’ [Kevin’s] tall and slender and I think that’s where people make the comparison but our abilities to score totally different. The effectiveness is the same. We BOTH get it done.”
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