NEW YORK — Our endless obsession with looking ahead and fantasizing about future possibilities finds us too often ignoring what’s happening before our eyes. The speculation becomes the show, capturing our imagination and providing the kind of daydream entertainment that blinds our ability to process what should be at the forefront.



Kevin Durant isn’t telling anyone in October what he plans to do in July, and even if he finds himself leaning one way or another today, so much can happen over the course of the next eight months to change another potentially league-altering decision. What’s truly tangible in this moment, and blatantly obvious to anyone not consumed by free agency fumes, is that Durant, in his 12th season, has never been better.



“I’ve mastered who I am as a basketball player,” Durant told The Athletic Sunday night as he slipped on a T-shirt featuring Homey D. Clown from the ’90s sketch comedy series, In...