ShareThisSAN FRANCISCO - Kevin Durant scrunches his lanky frame into a 1990s GMC van and heads for the Oklahoma City highways.
He stops and joins the action when he spots some businessmen who just clocked out and started a pickup game.
He crashes a stranger's barbecue and shoots hoops on the side of a barn.
The scenario unfolds again and again, with Durant flashing a huge smile and playing with an elderly group at a bingo hall, with a high school student in a park, outside a church with a pastor, and at a truck stop with big-rig drivers.
"He just loves to play basketball, no matter where he's at," said Warriors sixth man Nate Robinson, who played with Durant in Oklahoma City last season. "I know that's a commercial -- him driving around -- but that's who K.D. really is, the type of person he really is."
Durant, the 6-foot-9 wiry scoring machine of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is not the NBA's normal superstar. In fact, he claims he's not even a star.
LeBron James brashly announced he was taking his talents to Miami in the summer of 2010. Last season, Carmelo Anthony forced his way from Denver to New York, and Deron Williams escaped Utah for New Jersey's promise that it was moving to Brooklyn.
Then there's Durant. He quietly announced on his Twitter account in July 2010 that he had signed a five-year, $86 million extension, keeping him in the league's smallest market through 2015-16.
"When I was in college, I always wanted to play my whole professional career for one team," Durant said. "Tim Duncan was a guy I always looked at as an example of something that was becoming unheard of. That's what I wanted to do.
"I love the city. I love the people. I love my teammates. I've built relationships with the fans and the people who work in the arena. It's more than playing for a franchise. I play for that entire community, and I am a part of that entire community."
Part of Durant's desire to stay in one place is that he's rarely had that opportunity. He played for three Maryland high schools in four years. He spent one year at the University of Texas, and was the first freshman to win the Naismith Award, given to the nation's top player. And after winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award with Seattle in 2008, the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City.
After the Thunder went 23-59 in its inaugural season, Durant led his teammates to a 50-32 record in 2009-10. Last season, Oklahoma City won the division title and advanced to the Western Conference finals before losing to eventual champion Dallas.
"It's easy to respect that he wants to finish what he started there," said Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who played with Durant on the 2010 USA Basketball team.
"There's no doubt that I want to finish this," Durant said. "We've gone through some tough times in this organization. We're all still a little mad about that, and we want to bring something special to the area to make up for it."
It's odd to hear Durant say "mad." He has a quiet sense of humor, a modest demeanor and would probably change your tire if he saw you needed help.
He is the youngest player to win the league's scoring title, and he has done it in back-to-back seasons. Still, he believes he gets noticed at Oklahoma City grocery stores because he's tall, not because he's recognized as one of the game's top five players.
He has guard skills in a big man's body, making it nearly impossible for opponents to defend him. Durant's scoring is electric, illustrated by his 66-point outing last summer at the famed Rucker Park in New York City.
The buzz from onlookers hummed louder and louder as he hit one three-pointer after another over the top of three and four defenders at a time. When he hit the fourth straight long ball, the fans couldn't be contained. They rushed the court, and Durant stood stoic in the middle of a crazed mob full of praise for him.
"People call me a freak of nature," Memphis forward Rudy Gay said. "No, he's a freak of nature. It's crazy the stuff he can do."
And how he does it, on and off the court.
(Contact at Rusty Simmons at rsimmons(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit the San Francisco Chronicle
