OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s still the NBA preseason, and Kevin Durant already is tired of answering certain questions.
Take this interview session after a preseason win over the Nuggets, for example: Durant missed most of last season for the Thunder because of a broken right foot that required three surgeries. After scoring 23 points and playing nine minutes more than his previous preseason high, the 2014 MVP repeatedly was asked how he felt.
“Is this the best you’ve felt? I mean, you look …”
“Next question.”
Durant laughed and elaborated briefly, but the response offers a snapshot of an increasingly visible part of the four-time scoring champion’s personality.
Durant’s openness during his MVP speech 18 months ago won him accolades across the country. He’s still that man — still engaging, humble and selfless — but now there is a pronounced edginess to this NBA superstar, even occasional defensiveness.
He will be a free agent after this season, and rampant speculation from the media about where he might land has driven him to the point of calling people out.
Durant, of course, would rather let his game do the talking. This preseason, he averaged 18 points in five games and shot 59 percent from the field, including 57 percent from 3-point range.
After Durant unleashed a vicious dunk against Fenerbahce Ulker’s Jan Vesely, Russell Westbrook declared him ready.
“That just shows that he’s back to his normal self, and that he’s back to dominating,” said Westbrook, a Thunder star himself.
