At some point during this next road trip, most likely in Houston, Kevin Durant will use one of his refined offensive weapons to take the last necessary baby step into the 20,000 point club.

Maybe it’ll be a left wing 3-pointer, where his most famous shot was located, or a swooping transition slam, or a long-legged Euro step layup or a one-legged 17-foot fade, the most unblockable of his tools.

Whichever way it arrives, the destination is already assured. Durant is only 50 points away, just two average scoring nights. He will soon become the 44th player in NBA history to reach the mark. It’s an exclusive club, but not that exclusive.

So let’s whittle it down a bit: With his 20,000th point, Durant will become only the fifth player ever to reach the milestone before his 30th birthday — Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James are the four others. That is quite the exclusive list.

It’s also a predictor of what’s likely to come: Loads and loads more points.

This isn’t an aged vet clawing toward his last couple thousand (example: Dwyane Wade, 21,685 in his career). This is a lethal, legendary scorer, smack in his prime, ripping nets nightly en route to another 10K plus.

“30,000? Are you kidding me?” Jerry West said. “If he doesn’t get 30,000, or much more than 30,000, I’d absolutely be shocked. Shocked.”

West is the league’s logo, a living legend. He played 14 years. He made 14 All-Star teams. He scored 25,192 points. That’s 20th most all-time.

If Durant remains healthy, he should fly by that sometime around 2021, during his age 32 season. By 35 or 36ish, if the skills age well (and there’s strong reason to believe his type of scoring skill will), 30K should be in sight.

“That’s like the prime scorer’s number: 30K,” Durant said.

Only six have ever reached that mountain: Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Karl Malone, Bryant, Jordan, Chamberlain and Dirk Nowitzki.

James will become the seventh member shortly. Durant is a strong candidate to become the eighth.

“He’s learned all the aspects of how and when to score the basketball,” Abdul-Jabbar recently told The Athletic. “I like his attitude. I got a lot of respect for that.”

There was a time when Durant looked destined to challenge Kareem for the top spot of all-time: 38,387, an outrageous figure. LeBron once predicted it.

KD was a scoring champ by age 21, the youngest ever. He led the league in total points five straight seasons. He had 12,258 points on his 25th birthday, 4,479 more than Kareem did.

“I used to be really big on wanting to be the highest scorer to ever play,” Durant said.

But health got in the way and a different basketball path was forged. Injuries stripped him of 89 total games the past four seasons. In Durant’s world, that’s about 2,500 points.

“It depends on a whole lot of factors that he won’t have any control over,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “Whether or not he gets hurt, what the offensive scheme is. I was just fortunate on the Milwaukee Bucks and the Lakers, they needed my points the first day I got there, and I lasted so long.”

Durant gave back what’ll probably amount to another thousand with his move to the Warriors, where he willingly took a haircut on his shot attempts and points per game.

“It is giving up a couple points a night,” Durant said. “But it’s worth it.”

So, the dream out in the distance has faded. Kareem’s points record is surely safe, at least from Durant — 30K is attainable, 38K isn’t. When the two met up for a recent conversation in Los Angeles during Kobe night, they didn’t even talk hoops.

“I ate at his restaurant in Oklahoma City,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “His mom’s recipe for meatloaf is excellent. I just let him know that.”

In an extended sit-down with The Athletic, Durant confirmed the recent conversation. Kareem told Durant that he really did enjoy the meatloaf.

“It was cool as hell to hear from him,” Durant said.

But this interview with Durant includes a whole lot more — one of the NBA’s pantheon scorers diving deep into the specifics of this particular craft, detailing how he cultivated his “form of art” and reliving the greatest moments that have led him to this 20K milestone.

Here is the full transcript of the interview with Durant. Video highlights of the moments he mentions are peppered throughout. The podcast (audio) version of the interview is attached at the bottom.

Anthony Slater: Flashback time: Do you remember your first point?

Durant: Yeah, it was a driving layup against Denver: 2008.

AS: Your first point is actually a free throw right before that. The driving layup is your first make.

Durant: Oh. I only remember when the ball go in the rim on a free-throw attempt.

AS: So you don’t remember the free throw?

Durant: Don’t remember the free throw. Just remember putting the ball in the rim.

AS: Fouled by Kenyon Martin.

Durant: Oh yeah. He fouled me pretty bad, too. I remember that one.

AS: You had just stolen the ball from Allen Iverson. Those were those weird Denver teams. OK, then: Do you remember your first 3?

Durant: Ahh, that’s a good question. I don’t remember that one.

AS: Same game. I got it up right here (on YouTube). It’s Wally Szczerbiak going right wing, making the pass.

Durant: Because I shot a lot (starts watching the video). Oh, yeah. Yep. Carmelo (Anthony) helped too much.

(The video of Durant’s debut is below. The Martin foul leading to his first point comes at the 1:01 mark. His first make comes at the 1:35 mark, a swooping layup. His first 3 comes at the 2:28 mark, after Carmelo overhelps)

AS: Moving on to your first 40-point game. I assume you remember that one.

Durant: Man, that had to be the last game of my … that last game of that (rookie) season against the Warriors.

AS: Yep. Warriors fans will remember.

Durant: That was the first double-double I had. Like 42 and 13. But they wasn’t playing no defense, anyway. Season was over. But I took advantage of it, was able to score 40, which was big for me.

AS: As you mentioned, that was kind of your first big night and that’s the last game of the regular season. In Oracle. Your last game as a Sonic. Does that bump you up into that offseason, boost you?

Durant: Oh, most definitely. Made me feel good. You have so much time in between the next season. But it gave me a little bit extra confidence that I could score 40 in the league. I didn’t even score 40 in college or in high school. So to do it in the NBA, it gave me some extra confidence for sure.

AS: Did you add anything going into that second year? That was a frantic offseason — I kind of want to go offseason by offseason, how you built yourself as a scorer — but I know you are moving the franchise, moving cities.

Durant: Yeah, my ball-handling got better that summer going into that next year. I remember me and Jeff Green working out with (assistant coach) Brian Keefe six times a week back in D.C. All we did was play fullcourt 1-on-1, worked on our jump shots. But mainly we just worked on being creative, improvising, playing off our instincts. So we played a lot of 1-on-1, 2-on-2. And also that summer, I did a lot of playing outdoors. So it was just building up that confidence, that creativity, as far as my ball-handling and shot-making.

AS: Is that the most underrated part of your package as a scorer — that ball-handling at 7-foot tall?

Durant: Yeah, I think just being able to initiate off the dribble, initiate the offense off the dribble, being able to create when everything else fails late in the shot clock. It’s good for me. I’m not Kyrie Irving with the dribble, but I can hold my own in a possession or throughout a game in terms of ball-handling, making sure I keep the ball in my hands, not turn it over. Took me awhile to get comfortable, but I found it.

AS: OK, Year 2. Another quiz: Most free throws you’ve ever shot in a game? It came in Year 2.

Durant: 26. 26.

AS: Yeah. Against who?

Durant: Clippers.

AS: Yeah. A Clippers loss.

Durant: We lost that game. Yeah. Eric Gordon had 40 that game. That was a big game for me.

AS: Why was that a big game for you?

Durant: You know, you just get those moments where you’re just unstoppable and you feel like everyone is watching you. It wasn’t a big game at all. We both sucked. But it was good for young teams and their confidence.

So it was fun to watch the up-and-coming talent in the NBA. I felt like everyone was there to see us. I felt like it was a playoff-type atmosphere. I kept trying to impose my will that game — driving, driving and they were giving me the benefit of the doubt.

AS: Your third year is when you really start to take off as a scorer — 30.1 points per game, 20.3 shots per game, you’re taking 10.2 free throws. What’d you add going in and what was it about Year 3?

Durant: I don’t really think I added anything. I just kept trying to figure out easier ways to score. If someone cuts me off, I gotta go the other way. Coach (Scott Brooks) just gave me the space and the green light to kind of figure it out. A lot of players don’t get a chance to figure out how to score. Maybe it’s catch and shoot, catch and drive. But Scotty Brooks was like: Just try to score for us, no matter how you do it. That got my mind thinking a little bit on different ways to be effective.

AS: You win the scoring title that year. You end up winning four straight. But what was scoring title No. 1 like? Do you remember when you clinched it and everything around it?

Durant: Man. It was just … I come from an area where scoring is king above everything on the basketball court. You know what I’m saying? Everybody in my neighborhood tried to be scorers. We admired and looked up to guys who could score the basketball.

So when I went back home after that playoff series and I was averaging 30 points and a scoring champ, that’s all my friends and family talked about. It made me feel like I finally made it, I finally showed people what I could do. That confidence boost was incredible. Going into that summer, playing in the World Championships just made me feel like I belonged.

AS: Was there a moment where you clinched the title and you knew?

Durant: All I can remember is that last game in OKC against the Grizzlies. I had like 32, 34, I don’t remember how much. I just knew it was over 30. I just wanted to have 30, didn’t want to have 25, and I look back and I am 0.1 points off averaging 30. I just tried to make sure I was over the 30-point mark. To average that many points, it was fun.

AS: Do you remember your most shot attempts in a game?

Durant: 34.

AS: Yep — 34 twice.

Durant: Once against Utah.

AS: January 2014 against Utah and a two-OT game against the Lakers.

Durant: Oh, yeah, I was like 11-of-34. Baaaaad shooting night.

AS: I still can’t believe Kobe took 50 shots on his final night.

Durant: That was sick.

AS: Will you ever reach a 40-, 50-shot-attempt game?

Durant: Nah. I don’t think so. Because I feel like I can get my work done in 25 shots, the work I want to get done in 25 shots. I think that’s more of a challenge and it’s tougher to do — try to get 40 points on 20 shots or trying to get 50 on 25, 26 shots. I just try to shoot a good one every time down and if I happen to be 30 for 40 one day, I’ll take that. But being a volume shooter just to shoot, that’s not really my thing.

AS: Do you ever think back on those days when you were getting up 30, 29 regularly and be like: “Oooh, that was fun.”

Durant: Yeah, it was tiring. But it was pretty fun just knowing that I can shoot whenever I want. That’s all you want as a player, knowing you got that green light, knowing you can hoist them up whenever.

But when you look at that stat sheet and you got 30, then you look around the locker room and guys got 2, 3, 4, you’re like, “Ahhh, man.”

AS: (Kendrick) Perkins over there giving you the glare, like, “Man, I had two tonight.”

Durant: Yeah, like, I should’ve given you a few of those. But my teammates, man, they all wanted me to take that many shots. So sometimes you gotta do it.

AS: When does the obsession with efficiency come into play? Because I can remember you doing the Sports Illustrated profile where you’re talking about the apple tree and which shots are good and, OK, let’s take the rotten apples out of it. When does that become an obsession and how big an obsession does it become?

Durant: After that 2011 season, I didn’t shoot the ball. I was like 46 percent from the field that next year after I averaged 30. My percentages went down.

AS: We’re looking at the percentages right now. In 2011, you were 46.2 (percent), that was the worst since your rookie year.

Durant: Yeah, see, I started off shooting well and I just got relaxed thinking that this was just an everyday thing for me. I wasn’t focused on every shot after the All-Star break of that season.

So after that year was over, the lockout came, all I was worrying about was trying to find the best shot I could shoot, getting to my spots. That’s what I heard about Kobe, MJ, Kareem, Bird — they got to the shots they wanted to. I didn’t want the defense to dictate where I was going on the offensive end.

I just started to work on my pull-up shot, turnaround jump shot, just figuring out when I need to shoot 3s, working on the pull-up 3s at the right time. I just got really obsessed with trying to find the perfect shot for me. I started to shoot 50 percent and I just became addicted to it.

AS: Yeah, you go 49.6 percent that next season and then you’re 51 and 50 pretty much all the way until now where you’re 53 and 51 percent (with the Warriors).

You mentioned you were studying the shots that were good for you. Did you really go deep into it, like, “Oh, that 17-footer from the left elbow, I shoot a great percentage there.”

Durant: I just knew mid-range was a part of my game and that’s what I was taught as a kid, to shoot mid-range. It’s an easier shot. You don’t want to have to bulldoze your way to the rim every time. In a tight game, that’s hard to do. You lose a lot of energy. Then you don’t want to just shoot a lot of 3s either because that’s a farther shot.

So I just tried to work on that in-between game and it just became perfect for me. It just felt like that was always the bailout shot if I couldn’t find the one I wanted early. I just felt like I could shoot over smaller guys at that area and I can still shoot over bigger guys. My touch, just had to work on my touch day in and out to get those shots perfected.

AS: This was kind of a question I had for later, but it makes sense now. What’s it been like going through this age where mid-range is considered so taboo. This team doesn’t consider it that, you guys still take a lot, but to still keep that mid-range when a lot of the analytics are telling you don’t take them.

Durant: Yeah, I mean, you just got to have an anchor in your game at some point. The way the game is going, it’s changed. It was a big man game when I was growing up watching them play. It was 82-80 for the final.

Now when I got to the league, it shifted to a fast-paced game. But I always wanted to be an anchor in how I played. I wanted to stick to what I did, leave my imprint on the game that way.

I can shoot 3s. I like shooting 3s. But I’m not searching out 3s. I like to search out mid-range shots and easier shots and layups. That’s what’s making me in the fourth quarters, I feel like I can get more energy if I focus on shooting the best shot I can throughout the whole game.

You kind of got to change with the times, but still be who you are.

AS: What’s your favorite shot, your favorite kind of shot?

Durant: Ohhh man, that’s a good question. I like the pull-up going left on the right side. I feel like that’s cash for me, all the time. Or I shoot a great shot every time.

And I like the pull-up going from the 3-point line on the left side, left wing. I just feel like I get a lot of balance there. I feel like I never fade when I’m pulling up off the dribble from there. I feel like I never fade when I’m pulling up off the dribble in that shot.

Either it’s going to be a long shot or it’s going to go straight in. I never want to shoot short or touch the front rim or shoot an airball. That’s like a no-no in my book. So I just try to make sure on that shot, get my proper balance, get my arc up on my shot and follow through.

AS: Most makes you’ve had in a game in your career?

Durant: Nineteen?

AS: Yep. Twice. Nineteen. Never 20.

Durant: Never 20, right?

AS: A little surprised.

Durant: Yeah, I am, too. We played Denver, I had 50 — my first 50-point game, I think.

AS: Yeah, 51-pointer.

Durant: 2012. That season was so much fun.

AS: What made that season so much fun?

Durant: Because I just started to get it. It just started to slow down for me. You know what I’m saying? I was scoring efficiently, I was finding guys, I was kind of manipulating the game the way I wanted to.

AS: That was the lockout year, right? (Also his first and only trip to the Finals in OKC.)

Durant: Yeah. Shortened season. But I felt like all the work I put in was finally starting to show itself. I became a better, well-rounded player that year.

AS: The other 19-field-goal game, Warriors fans again will know this one well. You probably know this one well. The 54-pointer, which is a career-high. Again, I’m kind of surprised it’s only 54 as a career-high. Do you sit there and go, “54, that’s all?”

Durant: Nah. Nah. I see a lot of guys that score 50 and have eight points the next week or score 30 and you never hear from them again. I’d rather score a consistent 25 every day than have 50 every once in awhile. That’s just how I like it.

AS: What do you remember about it. I think you were 19 of 28, 54 points against many of your current teammates. Was Draymond talking smack during that game? He said he was early in the game, but later had to stop because you kept scoring.

Durant: You know, his energy kind of … he can just intimidate a lot of people and a lot of players and fans and the crowd just loves it. He tried to, not intimidate, but give his team more energy.

For us, we were coming off a back-to-back. We’d been playing well. Russ (Westbrook) was out, so we had to really focus in every game, every possession. Coach really had to coach every possession and every player.

So our focus level was different. We didn’t worry about the B.S. That night, my teammates were just finding me. Perk was setting some great screens, so I was going 1-on-1 with the big a lot.

Then after you go 1-on-1 with the big for your first 10 points, 1-on-1 situations become way easier. Your confidence goes way higher. So I was pulling up for 3s, driving to the rim and I just never stopped after that. You don’t even feel it, you just kind of move into that zone and no one can take you out of it.

AS: Can you remember your two other 50-point games?

Durant: Uhhh … Dallas.

AS: Dallas. What was special about that one?

Durant: I hit the last shot. I was struggling a lot and I hit some big shots in the overtime. And I hit the last shot to win the game.

AS: What did you go from the line that night?

Durant: 22 for 22? Or 20 of 20? I don’t think I missed a free throw.

AS: Split it. You went 21 of 21. So that’s your best night ever at the free-throw line.

Durant: I remember after the game (laughs). Dirk was upset I got 21 free throws. But I remember in 2011, he had 22 in the first game of the conference finals against us. I guess I repaid him.

But for the most part, that game was a struggle from the field. So I had to figure out how to get points for us. Free-throw line was the best option.

(Here are the highlights from that night — the game-winner, points 51 and 52, come at the 3:30 mark, a floater over Shawn Marion)

AS: You’re about to hit 20,000 points. How many of those would you guess are from the free-throw line?

Durant: Ohh, that’s a good question. … Ahh. Damn. I don’t know. How many free throws do I got?

AS: 5,047. So one-fourth of your points are from the line. So, as much as you don’t remember the free throws, those are important. That’s one-fourth of your points.

Durant: Yeah, they are important now. Maybe I got to start focusing in a little bit more. Because I just forget about them and move on. They just free points.

AS: But still you are career, what, 86, 87 percent (actually 88.2)?

Durant: Yeah, yeah. Should be 90 in my opinion. But, hey, I got time.

AS: You’ve been over 90 twice. You were a 50-40-90 club one season and you were over 90 in one of your earlier years. What’s the difference in the years you get 90 and the years you don’t — is that focus or bounce of the ball?

Durant: That’s just focus, man. They so free and you make so many and sometimes you might get up at the line and just fuck around. Oh, sorry.

AS: Nah, you’re good. Digital platforms allow swear words.

Durant: I just feel like you get up to the line and you mess around and one might go short, one might go too long, and you regret it after you miss it. So just staying conscious of always just trying to make those, finish those shots. My percentage will grow.

AS: OK, your fourth 50-point game. You’re really going to remember this one: at Toronto.

Durant: Oh, yeah, yeah.

AS: That’s probably one of your favorite regular-season games, right?

Durant: Yeah, probably my favorite regular-season game. Just the circumstances. It was late in the season. I felt like I was putting together an MVP case. (This was in late March, he’d be named MVP for the first time in May.)

Russell had just come back (from a knee injury), but he got hurt earlier in that game. That was a little scary for us. And in Toronto, the atmosphere, that’s one of the best arenas in the league.

I remember these two guys, they were calling me a crybaby the whole game. It was pissing me off so bad. I wanted to shut them up. We started to come back, make a little run and I was making shots and I got into it a little bit with them with a little staring match, bumping of my chest.

AS: And you didn’t do a lot of that early in your career. Or at least as much.

Durant: Uh, nah. Because a lot of people didn’t talk trash to me early on. So as I got better, more intimidating, I think, to other teams, I started to hear more trash talk.

That was an added part of my game, just trying to make it fun and make it like a streetball game, as far as the interaction with the crowd, but also staying locked in. So that game, I heard the noise, tried to shut them up and that was an incredible game.

AS: I’ll set that game up a little bit. You alluded to it, but Russell Westbrook’s been in and out of the lineup all year, having the knee issues, the scopes, different stuff.

His knee bent weirdly early on in the game, he leaves, there’s a feeling around the team that, you know, this might ruin the season, whatever. Then you guys went down, come back, it goes double OT, right?

Durant: It went double OT. We could’ve won in regulation, but they hit a big 3. Then we got down big in the second OT, like eight.

AS: I think you were down 8 with like 40ish seconds left. It was kind of your (Tracy) McGrady moment, right?

Durant: Yeah, I remember, I shot a terrible bank 3 that went in. Boom. Then we got a stop on the other end. Then Fish (Derek Fisher) hit one. Oh, he was struggling all game. Fish was mentally out of it that game. He was struggling. Then he hit a huge 3.

AS: I remember he was hyped up.

Durant: Yeah. He was excited. Then after that 3 Fish made, we pressed, pressed, got a stop, got a steal, actually. I had a layup (down two) and John Salmons fouled me so hard. And they didn’t call it.

So we fouled him. He got to the free-throw line, missed two. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is our game. I’m not going to another overtime. I don’t care if we lose, I’m shooting this 3-pointer.

So coach called me a play. Amir Johnson was on me. Which was a mistake. He had to know I was pulling up. I just let it fly. It went in and it just went totally silent from one second and then the crowd just went crazy and I feel Serge (Ibaka) just grabbing me by the neck.

AS: That’s a scary situation.

Durant: I’m just staring at the guys who was talking to me the whole game. Without saying nothing. I’m just staring at them. They was just like: “You got it.” That was an incredible moment.

(Here are the full Durant highlights from that game. All the double OT action he mentioned from above, including the Salmons foul and the staredown, begin at the 5:25 mark of the video)

AS: What’s your favorite game-winner then, if we’re on that subject?

Durant: New York — 2011. At home. New York was good that year. That was right before they got Melo. They were playing well with (Mike) D’Antoni coaching, Amar’e (Stoudemire), Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, (Danilo) Gallinari. They had a squad. I thought they were going to be a force for a while with that squad.

They were beating us pretty good. We end up coming back. Coach called my play and that was the first time, really, like buzzer was sounding as it was going through the room. That was something you could check off the bucket list.

AS: Favorite dunk?

Durant: Brendan Haywood.

AS: I believe that’s playoffs, so it won’t count on the 20K tally.

Durant: Oh, you’re right. Damn. Hmm … favorite dunk.

AS: But that was a good dunk.

Durant: Yeah, that was a good dunk. But it doesn’t count.

AS: That was kind of McGrady-on-Shawn-Bradley-like.

Durant: Oh, yeah, he jumped off two on that one. But it was the same place (in Dallas) and everyone was silent after that one.

AS: Favorite regular-season dunk.

Durant: Man, I done dunked so many times. I dunked on JaVale (McGee) pretty bad. Like the last game of the season, 2012. Two-hand dunk.

AS: You like that more because you know JaVale?

Durant: Yeah, most definitely. And it was an and-1. It was two hands. I just felt strong. It was a perfect dunk for me.

AS: Do you remember your 10,000th point?

Durant: Sacramento.

AS: No.

Durant: Oh, that’s the 15,000th.

AS: Yeah, 15,000th. I guess that’s bigger than 10. I figure 10 would’ve been bigger.

Durant: It’s crazy I’m starting to remember this stuff now. Starting to come back to me. 10,000th? You might have to …

AS: I don’t think you’ll remember the 10,000th point. But I bet you remember the game. In San Antonio on opening night (2012).

Durant: I remember. I remember. Yep.

AS: It’s right after (James) Harden got traded (literally five days earlier). You play the Spurs, probably should have won it, but Tony Parker hits the game-winner.

Durant: Hit the game-winner, 3-pointer in the corner. Ahhh. We had that game. But, yeah, that was a fun night. Weird night without James playing with us.

But I think that was the start of when the game started to slow down a little bit for me. I had to handle the ball more without James.

AS: What’s the hottest you’ve ever been in a game?

Durant: Hottest? I had some nights where I’m like … I remember the Christmas Day game in 2011.

AS: Was this in Miami?

Durant: Denver. At home. We played Denver. We had on yellow shoes. You probably weren’t in OKC yet.

AS: No, I don’t think I was.

Durant: But I was like 14 for 17, had 44, something like that. Felt like everything I threw up was going in.

(Here are the highlights from that night. His memory is correct: The entire team wore yellow shoes.)

AS: Hottest streak you’ve ever had — I’m going to sit here and assume it’s January 2014.

Durant: Nah, I’d say it’s 2010 when I went on that streak where I scored 25-plus, forget how many games it was.

AS: You had one of those streaks, it was 25 or 30 points for however many games in a row and it included that month.

Durant: Was it that month?

AS: There might’ve been another streak. I know more about 2012-through-now.

Durant: Yeah, you right. So before then, I went through another nice streak, 2010, where I was scoring 25 in like had to be 80 games. I don’t even remember. It was crazy. It was like 40 games.

I forget the streak. But 25-plus and I remember I lost it, ended the streak, in San Antonio. I had like 18 at the half and three points in the second half. I was kind of glad that streak was over. That’s all we kept hearing about.

(The 2010 streak Durant remembered was 29 straight games with 25 or more points, broken in San Antonio. It was the longest in the NBA since Michael Jordan’s 40 straight in 1986-87.

(But … Durant had an even longer streak of 25-plus during that 2014 season, starting in January and stretching into April, ending at 41, right after he surpassed Jordan, the longest in the NBA since Oscar Robertson in 1963-64.)

But that month, (January) 2014, it was the most all-around I felt. I felt on another level. I was scoring, I was assisting, I was leading the guys on the defensive end. We were just playing well as a team.

AS: You basically won the MVP that month?

Durant: Yeah. I felt like it. My shooting felt good, my movements felt great, plays were just money that coach was calling and I just let my play take control.

(Durant’s January 2014 averages, coming without an injured Westbrook: 16 games, 35.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals, 54.9 percent shooting, 43.6 percent from 3, 153 made free throws and a 12-4 record.)

AS: All right, want to ask you about some of the stuff you did add. The Dirk one-legged shot became a big thing. When did you add it, how did you add it?

Durant: Well, 2011, that lockout summer, I worked with this guy named Justin Zormelo. We used to watch film all the time and we had just played Dirk in the conference finals.

The way he was scoring on us was just so easy. I was just like: “I want to do that.”

My body type is not the same as Dirk. I don’t get guarded the same way. He gets guarded by bigs. He’s a little stronger than I am. But I just felt like that shot was unguardable.

Every day, I shot 100 one-leg shots a day. Just trying to get that touch. Because that’s a hard shot to shoot. In the mid-range, off one leg, the touch got to be perfect. I just worked on that touch as much as I can, had extra time with the lockout and by the time I came back, I just felt comfortable with it.

It became my signature shot.

AS: Was it more effective than you were ever hoping? Probably became more a part of your game than you ever thought.

Durant: Yeah, because it became the bailout for me. Teams play great defense and I can just bump a guy, rear back, come off one foot and just knock it down.

I see why Dirk loves it, perfected that shot, made it his for so long. Because you need bailout shots. Defenses are too good, coaches are too smart for you to just do exactly what you want. You need a bailout. I feel like that shot is a perfect one.

(Here is the one-legged Dirk fade against Dirk’s team)

AS: How about the Euro step? It became such a craze. Everyone did it different. Russ’ was super powerful, Harden’s is kind of slithery, yours is kind of this long-legged Euro. When did that become a big thing?

Durant: So 2014 I started working with this guy named Adam Harrington. We were working like non-stop.

There was this one move, going base. I would always get in trouble going baseline. I would beat a guy, help would come and I just didn’t know what to do once the help came outside of the box.

So you trap the box, you’re driving from the right side of the wing, let’s say. You driving right. The help is coming from the other side to trap the box, meaning you’re kind of stuck there.

I would always get stuck or just have to shoot a bad shot or a floater or a fadeaway. If I got a full head of steam now, he was telling me to slow down the second you see the defender and you gotta just try to move this leg, my left leg — I push off my right leg and I gotta make sure my left leg is around his high leg.

So you gotta get in the paint. You just gotta side-step him. It can’t be a quick Westbrook-, Harden-type of Euro. Because that’s like a transition Euro. In the half-court, I had to stretch out and then, boom, shoot my shot in the paint, my one-handed push shot or floater. In the half-court, I had to perfect the Euro more so than anything because defenses are coming over to help. I just needed a bailout.

AS: You got somebody with it the other day, I think Dwight Howard when you guys were in Charlotte.

Durant: Yeah, Dwight. Because you just slow down for a second. Then for that split-second, they don’t realize what you’re doing. You slow down, side-step them, use my length to hit the shot.

(This is the perfect example of Durant’s version of the Eurostep from a couple weeks back in Charlotte. The clip includes a slow-mo view of the long-legged maneuver.)

AS: You’re going to hit 20K in the next week. How high can you go?

Durant: I don’t really care, man. To be honest. I used to be really big on wanting to be the highest scorer to ever play.

But my skills speak for themselves. You just gotta watch. You just can’t look at my numbers and say he’s the greatest scorer because of my numbers.

You’re going to have to watch and figure out what I did to get these points and to score and to score effectively and also win at the same time. I’m more so interested in that.

But I got a long time to play hopefully and I’m just going to keep doing what I do. We’ll see what happens at the end. I don’t want to put a cap on it.

I just want people to watch me play, see how I create what I create. This is my form of art. I just try to express myself through it. I’d rather you watch me play than just look at my numbers.

AS: We’re going to talk some numbers.

Durant: We’ll see what happens. That’s how I’ll put it.

AS: Jerry West said he’d be “shocked” if you don’t get to 30K.

Durant: See, I don’t know, man. You never know, bro. You never know. I had a year full of injuries that stopped me. The last three years. I missed 20 games last year, 10 games the year before that, then 57 maybe, 58 the year before that.

So who knows. And I did a year of college. So who knows. It’s like … who knows. We’ll see. I don’t want to have to have a huge game, 60-point game. I’d rather just be consistently where I am every night. I’m sure that’ll add up at the end of my career.

AS: Also, you making the move here (to the Warriors) is you giving up however many cumulative points.

Durant: Yeah, it is giving up a couple points a night.

AS: Probably 2,000 over your lifetime.

Durant: Yeah, it’s giving up a couple points. But it’s worth it. You know how that is.

AS: Late in your career, you’ve talked about wanting to play until 40. How late do you want to play and how do you view yourself as a Dirk-like 37-year-old who can still put in 17 a night?

Durant: I don’t know, man. That’s hard for me to say right now. I don’t want to spend 20 years of my life. … Let me put it this way: I don’t want to spend the last three, four years of my career just searching for something, rather than playing for the love, the joy, just to win.

If I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted and I’m good with myself and I may be 18 years in, I’ll call it. But I’m not going to sit around for two or three extra years just to try to get more points or get more accolades.

We’ll see what happens on that front, but for right now I’m just trying to keep growing every day. It’ll be cool to see where I’m at at the end of my career as far as numbers are concerned.

AS: The six 30K scorers: Kareem, Karl Malone, Kobe, Jordan, Wilt, Dirk. LeBron’s going to hit it very soon.

How many of those greats have you talked to and what’s maybe the greatest compliment you got? I saw you talking to Kareem, but then I talked to Kareem and he told me he said he liked your restaurant.

Durant: Yeah, yeah, it wasn’t about basketball. He said he liked my mom’s meatloaf.

AS: I thought he was lying to me because he didn’t want to tell me what he really said.

Durant: It was cool as hell to hear from him. But you want that respect. I think every guy on that list respects how I play the game, respects the work that I put in.

If I don’t reach 30K, as long as I got that. But it would be nice to be in that. That’s like the prime scorer’s number: 30K.

I may have to play a lot to get there. But for now, I’m cool with the trajectory I’m on. I’m cool with the progress I’m making. We’ll see. But just to know that those players respect my game is pretty much all I want.

AS: You hate being just known as a scorer. That’s kind of one of your pet peeves. But it’s gotta be nice knowing there’s one thing that you are among the elite of the elite in the history of the game, right?

Durant: Yeah. It’s something. You want something to be remembered as. You want people to recognize your skills. I put in the work and basketball fans around the world, they can appreciate the effort I put in and the level of knowledge I’ve gained over the years from scoring.

A lot of guys love the way I score. All my friends are like: “Man, you scoring 50 tonight?” I’m like, “Really? You really think I can just score 50 whenever I want to?”

But that standard they have for me is something I appreciate. I worked, I worked, I worked to be an all-world scorer. The object of the game is to put the ball in the basket. I’ll take it.

AS: All right, Kevin Durant, appreciate you coming on and talking about what’s going to be a milestone coming up. You may not notice it within the game. Do you think you’ll know, like, “Oh, that layup, that was it”?

Durant: Now I will because you reminded me. But it’s a blessing, man, to play this long and to be consistent and keep growing as a player. 20K is not the end for me hopefully. Just keep rising, keep growing and keep getting better, that’s the plan.

Here is the audio version of the interview, in podcast form)

(Top photo: Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)