DENVER — In front of family, friends and way too many desperate KD2DC free agency hopefuls, Kevin Durant tortured his hometown crowd by toasting his hometown Wizards for 12 points and 10 rebounds in the game’s first 23 minutes.

Then in minute 24, on one of those long-legged gallops through the paint, Durant planted too hard on his left leg and immediately grabbed at his hamstring. He was fouled on the drive. Durant nailed both free throws, but then limped to the locker room after the first half buzzer. He didn’t return, finishing the night with 14 points.

That was on November 10, 2015. Exactly a year later, now on a new team, Durant took a quick quiz inside the Denver locker room late Thursday night: When was the last time you didn’t score at least 20 points in a regular season game?

“It was the game I hurt my hamstring, right?” Durant said. Ding. Correct. “Man, I was on my way that night.”

A week later, Durant returned from the hamstring tweak and put up 27 points in 30 minutes on the Jazz — not a particularly notable performance from the four-time scoring champ. But it served as the start of a streak that has little historical precedence.

Over the past 365 days, Durant scored at least 20 in 72 consecutive games. Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson had longer streaks in the early 60s. Michael Jordan had a 72-game streak in the late 80s. But no one else, not even all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, made it to 72. Wilt. Oscar. MJ. KD. That’s it.

“You see the names on that list,” Stephen Curry said. “It’s unbelievable.”

The streak ended on Thursday in Denver. Durant had 14 points entering the fourth quarter of a blowout win. Steve Kerr left him in and Durant had a couple chances to get to 20. With six minutes left and his point total at 18, Durant drove hard, but tumbled into Kenneth Faried. The referee called a charge. Kerr, having seen the hard fall, pulled Durant, not wanting to risk injury to chase a record.

“I’m not going to mess with the basketball gods,” Kerr said.

Dating back to late last season, when the streak stretched from the 40s to 50s to 60s, Durant didn’t like chatting about it. He’s a career 27.4 per game scorer. Twenty points isn’t notable. That’s expected by late in the third quarter. “It’s my job,” Durant once said.

But now that it’s over, he took a few brief minutes postgame in Denver to reflect on it. And in doing so, even he got a better sense of the absurdity of his consistency.

How was it best put in perspective for Durant? With another quiz. Look across the locker room. There’s Stephen Curry, the star of the night. He had 33 points against the Nuggets. The game before, he had 24. The game before that, 46. We’re talking about the NBA’s reigning scoring champ and the most potent 3-point shooter in league history.

Take a guess at his longest career streak scoring 20 or more points.

“Oh, that’s a good question,” Durant said, starting to pick up on the hint that it was probably lower than he expected. “Hmm…Um. I’ll go with 30. Mid-30s.”

Nope. Fourteen.

“Fourteen?” Durant said. “That’s it?”

Not even one-fifth as long. Does that help to comprehend the rarity of what you just did?

“Yeah, I guess, now that you say it like that,” he said.

LeBron James’ longest streak is 49. Carmelo Anthony’s is 31. Blake Griffin’s is 30. James Harden’s is 23. Klay Thompson’s is eight. Since 2010, the only streak that came close to Durant’s 72 was Durant’s 56, which he started back in 2013.

Getting to 20 points in the NBA is incredibly hard. Guys like Shaun Livingston, truly solid pros, have never done it in back-to-back games. How about David West, another veteran Warrior? Back in his prime in New Orleans, West averaged more than 20 per game two full seasons.

“Oh, man, I don’t know,” West said. “You know, you have a few games where it’s all flowing and you got 25, 30. But then there’s an off-night. Man. I don’t know. I probably had six or seven (straight). Something like that.”

Ding. Seven. Just 65 games short of Durant’s high-water mark.

“Yeah, that’s a lot. It’s a lot. That’s hard, man. Wow,” West said, as his eyes widen and he peers across the locker room at the 7-foot scoring machine. “Man, I just think it’s dope that he was able to stay who he was. Because probably when he was younger, folks were trying to force him to be a big man. I’m actually glad he’s been able to trot his own path.”

Last season, Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour made its final NBA road stop in Oklahoma City. The scheduling was attached to a bit of a historical coincidence. Durant’s streak entering the night was 63 straight games, the most, at that point, since Kobe’s career-long 63.

And if you dive into both streaks, a distinct Durant characteristic stands out: Efficiency. Kobe’s 63 straight 20-point games came out of necessity. This was back in 2005-06, the season after Shaquille O’Neal left Los Angeles. Kobe was alone on that team and not afraid to jack 30-plus times on any given night. Overall, he shot 45.8 percent during the streak.

But Durant was more economical during his 72-game run, shooting 51.3 percent. He’s regularly had 10-of-13 nights and 14-of-19 nights. Against the Lakers last April, the game he passed Kobe, Durant went 11-of-18 for an easy 34.

“There’s literally nothing he can’t do offensively,” Kobe said that night. “I don’t see that streak ending anytime soon.”

Thursday night in Denver, it finally did.

“I’m kind of glad it’s over,” Durant admitted. “It’s actually hard to do, especially on a team with these type of players.”

More sub-20 games likely await Durant on the Warriors. With their talent, he’ll shoot a tinge less than in Oklahoma City and probably rest a few more fourth quarters. The burden of chasing 20 has been lifted. But the mark forever remains on his Hall of Fame résumé, an absurd streak for one of the most absurd scorers the game has ever seen.

“I just try to be consistent,” Durant said. “Don’t want to be one of those guys that scores 50 one night and six the next. I’d rather have 30 for a week straight, 25 for a week straight. I’m about every single day…But now I can reflect and say, yeah, that was pretty cool.”