Texas Basketball: Longhorns Mount Rushmore since 2000

The Longhorns were fortunate enough to at least get the Washington D.C. native and current Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant for one year in Austin. KD has also starred for the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder (originally the Seattle SuperSonics) in the NBA since the 2007-08 season. He’s won two NBA Championships, two Finals MVP’s, and one regular season MVP.

During his one season at Texas, Durant played in 35 games while averaging around 36 minutes on the floor per game (which is an insane amount of playing time). He averaged 25.8 points per game, 11.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks, while shooting 47.3 percent from the field, 40.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 81.6 percent from the charity stripe.

There wasn’t many more accolades that Durant could win in his one season with Texas. He was the Naismith and Wooden Award winner, 2006-07 AP Player of the Year, Rupp Trophy winner, and consensus All-American. KD also took home about every Big 12 honor possible in 2007, including All-Big 12 Tournament Team.

Any Mount Rushmore for Texas of any part of the history of the program would likely have KD at the top. He raked in an insane 58.7 true shooting percentage, 8.8 win shares, and .280 win shares per 40 minutes during his freshman campaign.

KD would wind up as the No. 2 selection in the 2007 NBA Draft, right behind former Ohio State Buckeyes big man Greg Oden. That didn’t turn out too well for the Trail Blazers in the long run.