Many players come into the league after excellent college campaigns. But not all of them are able to make the transition from college to the NBA successfully. Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant was one of the more successful ones.

Recently, former Nets player Stephon Marbury talked about how he was impressed by Durant right from his college days. “I’ve never seen anybody like Kevin Durant,” Marbury said on Ball Don’t Stop. “I remember watching Kevin Durant his first game in college when he was in Texas.”

“And I called my brother, and I was like ‘Yo, there’s this kid named Kevin Durant, he’s a freshman, he won’t be there long.’ I said, ‘he actually could leave right now.’ I said, ‘when you put 10 or 15 pounds it would be over.’

And Durant did just that. From being listed at 215 lbs during college, he is now 240 lbs and it has gone like Marbury predicted. He has been terrifying defenses for over a decade now and is one of the best players in the league.

ALSO READ – “Our Dream”: Nets Star Kevin Durant Talks About His Experience of Reading SLAM Magazine as a Kid

Marbury explains why Kevin Durant is set apart from the rest

Despite almost being seven feet, Durant’s ball-handling is as silky as it gets. Combining that with other skills on both ends of the floor is what has left Marbury blown away.

He said, “We’ve never seen a guy at 6’10” handle the ball the way how he handles the basketball. It’s literally point guard skills. Everything that he does from his cross, from his hesi, everything. The thing that separates is he can shoot. When you can shoot from that far out that sets up everything.

“There’s no going under pick n roll on him. It’s not even a thought… I think he’s definitely in that realm with those guys that understand how to play the game and the functionality of.”

With these exceptional skills, he was able to help the Warriors win back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. But often his rings are questioned since he chose to go to a team with three All-Stars who had just come off a record-breaking 73-9 campaign. So now Durant’s goal will be to win with the Nets and prove his critics wrong.

ALSO READ – REPORTS: Brooklyn Nets Look to Snag Draft Prospect Away From New York Knicks