A lot of the news surrounding Kevin Durant lately has been about his impending free agency in the summer of 2016. Well now, for a day at least, the story about Durant might just be different as Durant was in Spain promoting his new Nike basketball shoes when he was asked if he thinks he's the best player in the world and of course he said yes, according to Matt Moore of CBS Sports.
Really Durant had no other choice but to say yes here as he is a competitor and no competitor ever wants to admit that somebody else is better than them. At this time last year Durant would have had a legitimate claim to being the best player in the world as he was coming off his first career MVP award but in reality LeBron James is still the best player in the world no matter how close Durant has gotten.
Durant is definitely one of the best players in the NBA, more than likely top five, but after this past season his place isn't as clear cut. All of this stuff is very subjective but two seasons ago it was clear that LeBron and Durant were the two best players in the world and that there was a large gap to number three. Now there are other players in the mix including Anthony Davis, who many think will become the best player in due time, reigning MVP Stephen Curry and MVP runner-up James Harden.
How you want to rank those five players is up to you but it is obvious that other players have closed to gap on Durant and LeBron. This may not be a conversation if Durant wasn't hurt last year. The four-time scoring champion only played in 27 games a year ago as he dealt with a foot injury and it is fair to question whether he will be the same player this upcoming season and beyond.
Durant will still be just 27 years old when the 2015-16 season begins and it is very possible that he will come out and stake his claim as the best player in the world in his ninth season. The fact that he thinks he is the best player in the world is not a surprise at all and if he answered the question any other way it would be a much bigger story.
