There is a generation of players coming up who view Kevin Durant as their idol. Which shouldn’t be a surprise.
Maybe what’s surprising is they are already here — Karl-Anthony Towns is one. The NBA rookie — averaging 16.1 points and 10.5 rebounds a game, with a true shooting percentage of 54.3 percent and a PER of 20.9 through eight games — is a massive Durant fan.
You can see it from this interview when Towns was a high school freshman in New Jersey who got to interview KD for a segment on MSG Varsity, a website trying to teach youth about journalism.
The crew at NBA on TNT found the video.
.@KarlTowns: NBA rookie sensation, NBA insider https://t.co/iNyMghQ15k
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 13, 2015
Notice that even at that age, Towns is almost looking Durant in the eye.