Thunder's Durant has the look of an all-time scorer

OKLAHOMA CITY - Though he is in just his fourth season in the league, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant is already being mentioned with the greats currently in the game.

Last season, he averaged 30.1 points and 7.6 rebounds and helped the Thunder push the eventual-champion Lakers to six games in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

This past summer, 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala was a teammate of Durant's on the USA national team that won the FIBA World Championships in Turkey. Going into Worlds, Iguodala was already impressed with Durant's game, but came out with a new thought.

"I think he can become the all-time leading scorer," said Iguodala, who missed last night's game with a strained right Achilles' tendon. "With the volume of shots that he gets and the way he gets to the line it works to his advantage. And he can shoot the ball from the perimeter. He's only [22] years old, so when he's 36, 37, 38, or 39 he could sit out there and shoot threes. And he can rebound the ball really well and he's a smart player. He can play for a really long time."

Durant so far has scored 6,133 points (before last night's game) and has a career average of 25.3 points. The all-time leader is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387. If Durant played 20 years in the league and played all 82 games each season and averaged 25 a game during that span, it would work out to 41,000 points. But that's getting a little ahead of things.

"I've watched him a lot and he's just a terrific player," said Sixers coach Doug Collins. "He can play all over the floor. He has the skills of a guard, he can post, he can shoot the three. What you have to take away are the easy baskets and the free throws. I think that's critical."

Collins was limited in his attempt to shut down Durant since Iguodala, his best on-the-ball defender, was not available. "If we had Andre, it would be a case of me putting him on Durant and that's it," said Collins. "You have to figure out how much help you'll need to give. We talked about maybe playing Jrue [Holiday] on him a little bit because he plays like a guard out on the floor and sometimes if you get a quicker guy on him who can get into him a little bit . . . But then he runs you down on the block. It's a pick-your-poison type thing."

For the first time since leaving at halftime of Friday's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Iguodala was on the court for yesterday morning's shootaround and again last night before the game. He shot a lot of jumpers, but didn't put in any all-out running. He hopes to be ready to play when the team travels to Dallas on Friday.

"It's just stiff," Iguodala said. "I'm trying to get it to loosen up. It's up in the air. I'm just trying to do as much treatment as possible. I'm treating myself. I've got a stimulator in my room so I'm hooking up with that late at night, so I'm just trying to be pro-active. I'm trying not to favor it. I noticed that my reaction time isn't as good when I go out to rebound or after a loose ball. That's when I feel it so I've just got to be cautious with that."

Swingman Jason Kapono hasn't been with the team since Sunday due to personal reasons. He will rejoin the Sixers in Dallas before Friday's game.

A source said yesterday that a report by ESPN.com that the Sixers had rebuffed an offer by the New Orleans Hornets involving Andre Iguodala wasn't true and that there were no talks.