Why Durant Won't Be the Face of the NBA

Kevin Durant is really good. In fact, he may turn out to be one of the best players to ever play the game of basketball. Lately, people have been talking about whether he can and will become the next face of the NBA despite playing in a small market. He may become wildly successful by NBA standards (MVPs and Rings, i.e. Duncan, Shaq, and Kobe), but he will not become the face of the NBA.

There have been plenty of uber-talented players that have not ascended to NBA-Face status. It seems to take more than sheer ability or exposure to get to that echelon. The NBA-Face player has to win, be made for the highlight reel, and possess a rap battle-esque, narcissistic swag. Kevin Durant is great, but I am not sure he hits all of those points.

For now, he hasn’t won anything. And I don’t mean that he has to win a ring (look at LBJ, his zero rings, and his time as NBA-Face), but he needs to lead his team to a playoff win and, ultimately, the Finals. I suspect that the Thunder will advance past the first round of the playoffs this year and will challenge for a spot in the finals in the next 5 years, but there are no guarantees. It seems like his team is headed in the right direction and, even after a slow start this year, are still traveling down that road. But I do think you have to worry about the McGrady corollary.

T-Mac was (I was sad to see him get hurt again last night) a freakishly talented dude. He had height, hops, and handles (the “3 H’s”?). In 2002-2003, when he was 23 years young, he averaged 32.1 ppg, shot 45.7% from the field, 38.6% from 3, averaged 5.5 apg, and 6.5 rpg. Last year, when he was 21, Durant averaged 30.1 ppg, shot 47.6% from the field (1.9% better than T-Mac), 36.5% from 3 (2.1% worse than T-Mac), averaged 2.8 apg (2.7 less than T-Mac), and 7.6 rpg (1.1 more than T-Mac). These years are eerily similar. I am not saying that Durant is T-Mac. I think it is safe to say he will be more successful (making it past the first round in the playoffs this year will seal that deal), but don’t you have to at least entertain the possibility that Durant is a great scorer and that he won’t necessarily be the type of player that propels his team to rings despite his crazy offensive skills? Admittedly, this is the weakest part of my argument, but I think it bears mentioning.

Also worth mentioning, I got to see Durant in person for the first time this week. I took my wife who is 8.5 months preggers with me. We currently live in Utah, so we didn’t get too many strange looks. Anyway, it was only one game in person, but add that to the other times I have watched him in the NBA and one thing has stood out: he is not made for ESPN, relatively speaking (by this I mean compared to other potential NBA-Facers). On Monday night, he scored an even 30 points on 17 fga. That is an effective game. I think most teams would take a performance like that on almost any night. (In fact, it is performances like this one that make the previous two paragraphs seem as pointless as anything a Kardashian has ever uttered. Especially, “I do.” Sorry Lamar). But in that game, the most exciting thing he did was miss a dunk. He made some really nice jump shots that nerds like me enjoy, but those don’t translate to the sexy highlights we see almost every game from guys like LBJ or Wade or the younger Kobe. And even those beautiful j’s are not as jaw-dropping as what the current Kobe does after 14 seasons in the NBA because Durant is so much taller and longer. He doesn’t have to do as much dancing to get off a wet jumper (i.e. Dirk). Basically, the result is a splash, but the move is not. He runs low on OSMs (Moments that make you sit up and think, “Oh S***!”). He will undoubtedly have some OSMs, but to be the NBA-Face don’t you have to be in the top 2 or 3 players people are youtubing for highlights? And with so much of his game geared towards getting himself to the free throw line, I just don’t see the same highlight reel potential for Durant as I do for the aforementioned guys.

Lastly, Durant is too nice. He is a humble, mild-mannered kid. This is great for team chemistry and for the NBA brass (aka White Guys), but it doesn’t fit the mold of the NBA-Face. The integration of the NBA and hip-hop culture has been covered (and covered and covered) and Durant’s personality seems to put him on the outside. He does not have that kind of swag. He may turn out to be deserving of a place in the “best player of his generation” argument, but that doesn’t mean he will be the NBA-Face. Just ask Tim Duncan after his 2 MVPs and 4 Rings. Actually, Durant’s personality and his on-court manner reminds me much more of Timmy’s than guys who actually became this decade’s NBA-Facers (Shaq, Kobe, LBJ, Wade).

To me, the fact that Durant plays in a small market is not the thing that will hold him back from becoming the NBA-Face. It has much more to do with these other factors. I would bet he will make the not winning point moot and he will do so pretty quickly. He is really good individually and he has a team with well-above average management to help him get his pawns. But the final two obstacles to becoming NBA-Face worthy are not easily fixable. In short, greatness does not equal NBA-Faceness.