Kevin Durant Once Called LeBron James the “Perfect Athlete” Long Before Their Legendary Rivalry Began
Long before Kevin Durant became an NBA MVP, champion, and future Hall of Famer, he was an 18-year-old prospect preparing for the 2007 NBA Draft while facing enormous expectations. At the time, there was one player he admired above everyone else: LeBron James.
In an interview with Time before being selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics, Durant was asked which athlete he looked up to most. His answer was immediate.
“LeBron James by far,” Durant said. “The way he handled himself coming out of high school — he had a lot of hype, he never let it get to his head. He just played hard, and he lived up to his expectations. You never see him get in any trouble and things like that. He led his team to the Finals. He’s like the perfect athlete, I think.”
At the time, James was already one of the NBA’s brightest stars. The Cavaliers superstar had just led Cleveland to its first-ever NBA Finals appearance in 2007 while finishing among the league’s top MVP candidates for a second straight season. Even more remarkable was the fact that he accomplished all of that before turning 23 years old.
Ironically, Durant’s own career would follow a similar trajectory.
By age 23, Durant had already established himself as one of the NBA’s elite players, finishing as MVP runner-up twice and leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals. Standing in his way of a first championship, however, was the very player he had once called his role model — LeBron James.
Over the years, Durant backed up the praise he once gave James. Like LeBron, he lived up to the enormous expectations that followed him into the league and developed a reputation as one of basketball’s hardest workers. Former teammate Vasilije Micic even revealed that Durant regularly practiced passing out of double teams, constantly refining parts of his game despite already being one of the league’s most gifted scorers.
Talent alone never defined Durant’s greatness. Much like James, he combined elite physical gifts with relentless dedication, allowing him to remain among the NBA’s top players for nearly two decades.
Parallel Careers, Similar Criticisms
While Durant admired James’ professionalism and success, their careers also ended up sharing another controversial storyline: neither became known for staying with one franchise.
James famously left Cleveland in 2010 after years of playoff disappointment, joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to form one of the most talked-about superteams in NBA history. He would later return to Cleveland before eventually moving to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Durant made a similarly controversial decision in 2016 when he left Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors after a heartbreaking playoff loss. The move helped him win two championships, but critics have often questioned how those titles should be viewed given the Warriors’ already dominant roster.
As a result, both superstars have faced ongoing debates about loyalty, legacy, and the sacrifices required to win championships.
Would their careers be viewed differently had they remained with the teams that originally drafted them? It’s a question that continues to divide basketball fans.
What isn’t up for debate, however, is the impact both players have had on the game. And for Durant, that journey began with admiration for the player he once described as “the perfect athlete” — a player who would eventually become both his greatest rival and one of his closest peers.
