A quiet sort who maintains his cool at all times, Durant doesn’t have the demonstrative personality that locker-room captains so often feel entitled to take on.
“There are so many different ways to lead,” Brooks says. “Sometimes, people get confused—you might think the fiery guy is leading, but what is he saying? With Kevin, what he is saying is how he is acting and how he acts every day. He leads by his work ethic, and when he speaks up, he has something worth saying.”
Durant doesn’t lecture teammates or get in their faces. He doesn’t have to.
“He’s very grounded and he works hard,” says point guard Reggie Jackson. “When your star player is like that, no one can really act up. He’s humble. So that keeps everybody else humble.”
The humility comes from the sum of Durant’s experiences. Even at his young age, he has had his share.
“One of the things that he has been able to do is travel, and that has enabled him to see things in a worldly sort of way,” says Rick Barnes, Durant’s head coach for one season at the University of Texas before Durant left for the NBA draft.
“I don’t think, when he finishes playing, that Kevin is going to stay in the U.S. and try to help just one country, even though it is his country. He wants to make a difference.
“I really believe that one day, if he wants, he can change the world.”
