Kevin Durant on Nikola Jokic: He’s going to be a force for a long time

Over the summer, Kevin Durant asked an interesting question to his followers.

Durant never followed up with the tweet but after the Warriors win over the Nuggets on Saturday night, I asked him what his impression was of the young Serbian center.

Man he’s different, he’s different. He’s still young, though. You gotta let him still develop and grow. But his feel for the game for a young player like that is different. The way he passes, the way he pushes the break, shoot the three, shoot the mid-range. Now it’s just a matter of consistently every single day just knowing the work habits and knowing how hard it is to lead your team every night to a W.

That’s something that every young player goes through, especially as talented as him. He’s going to figure it out at some point and he’s going to be a force for a long time.

Durant seemed to enjoy this question. He smiled as I asked it and I thought his answer was actually really insightful. Jokic had a breakout season last year but the gap between a top prospect and a top 10 NBA player is a difficult one, one that Durant hints requires much more than talent and skill.