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OKLAHOMA CITY — The man has witnessed key stages of Kevin Durant’s NBA trajectory as a promising young star in Oklahoma City toward an NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors. In between, Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams saw a transformation as noticeable as Durant’s imposing wing span.

“He’s become a much more consistent defender here,” Adams said. “He’s played and showed defensive brilliance throughout his career. But I think his consistency here has been really good. That’s really helped our program.”

The Warriors (13-4) enter Wednesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder (7-9) with seemingly all eyes centered on Durant facing his former team for just the second time since leaving the Thunder franchise for Golden State as a free agent in the 2016 offseason. The most pressing question: will Durant play after the Warriors listed him as questionable with a sprained left ankle that left him sidelined during Sunday’s win in Brooklyn? The next pressing question: will Durant encounter the same hostile environment that awaited him from fans that once showered him with praise?

As a Warriors assistant that specializes on defensive schemes and honest feedback, Adams has become more consumed with another question. After seemingly accomplishing everything with an NBA championship, a Finals MVP, a regular-season MVP and eight NBA All-Star appearances, can Durant land on an All-Defensive NBA team or better yet win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award?

“Kevin will be the deciding force on that,” Adams said. “If that is an important thing for him, he will get it done. It is important. He is kind of meeting a certain benchmark. That all depends on Kevin. It’s wholly within his grasp to get that done if that’s a goal of his.”

Durant has outlined that as a goal of his in the 2017-18 season. Durant has made early steps toward reaching that goal. He has ranked second in the NBA in blocks per game (2.27), and also had seven in what marked a career-high last month in New Orleans. Durant has held opponents to a 39 percent clip, according to NBA.com. And Durant’s 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame and long wingspan has forced teams to alter their offensive sets and their shot attempts.

Oh, and Durant has done that while also remaining the Warriors’ second-leading scorer. He has averaged 24.9 points, while shooting 53.3 percent from the field, 42.2 percent from 3-point range and 86.5 percent from the free-throw line. Durant has also posted 6.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.

“Kevin is a type of guy that can score a lot of points with his eyes closed,” Adams said. “It comes very natural to him. The other things I think he’s taking great pride in is his defense. I think when he does that, he can be as good as anyone out there. I think at times he has shown that this year.”

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Adams has become impressed with Durant’s improvement in blocking shots, guarding his man and helping out on rotations. Adams attributes those improvements toward Durant having increased awareness stemmed through 10 NBA seasons. But just as Adams prodded a young Durant as a former Thunder assistant from 2008 to 2010, Adams has done the same thing with Durant in Golden State for the past two seasons.

Adams has called on Durant to improve with being a “spontaneous defender” that can make split-second changes that Adams says Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala do so well. After praising Durant for his practice regimen that ensures sustained offensive consistency, Adams asked for the same thing for the other side of the court.

“Kevin is just a marvelous basketball player. When he makes up his mind to do something for a season or on any given night, he’s one of those guys where it’s possible to achieve those goals,” Adams said. “He’s a marvelous defender. The only thing I think can help you is focusing on the consistency aspect of game after game trying to do the same stuff. He did that last year. I think he’s doing that this year. He’s still in a process of getting to his highest level of play. That’s probably reflective of many individuals on this team.”

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