Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder arrives before taking on the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on March 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, Calif.
(2 of 2)
So what made him comfortable enough to embrace his squareness? "Getting a little older, learning how to brush things off," says Durant, who's all of 23, as he pulls his GMC van, featuring his Nike KD logo on the headrests, into the gym parking lot. (Today he's in practice mode, sartorially speaking, in gray sweatpants and a T-shirt.) "Playing on the basketball court helps, but more so growing up. Inner confidence is something that goes a long way. I'm still working on it."
In Durant, the NBA has an ideal front man for the geek-chic craze: a humble, loyal superstar who signed a long-term contract in low-glitz Oklahoma City, he knows that winning a pro championship for OKC would boost the city's pride. Despite his shopaholic-grad-student look, he has just a year of college under his designer belt. (The NBA required it under its controversial "one and done" rule.) Other geek-chic stalwarts who reached the NBA before Durant, such as James, Howard and Stoudemire, went straight from high school to the pros. It's popular to criticize college hoops players for giving their education short shrift. This style suggests, We're much, much smarter than you think.
Durant insists he's not dressing to make a social statement--he just digs the duds--but he's aware that geek chic gives NBA players a cheekier image, and he embraces it. "If people always see you upset, always see you with baggy clothes, see you wearing dark colors, it's normal for a person to think, Oh, if that's how he looks, that's how he is," he says. "When somebody sees me, I want them to think of someone who's always smiling, always positive, who's always selfless. That's who I am." And that's not bad for a nerd.
FOR MORE FROM SEAN GREGORY'S INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN DURANT, GO TO time.com/durant