OKLAHOMA CITY -- As the on-stage band broke out into a brassy version of the Harlem Globetrotters theme, Kevin Durant, wearing a well-tailored tuxedo, looked out over the crowd and couldn't swallow his smile.
It was a momentous mid-November evening in Tulsa: Durant was being inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame along with philanthropists, a former university president, a renowned sculptor and one of the architects of Oklahoma's school system. The 27-year-old was the youngest inductee by several decades.
"This is truly amazing," Durant said at the podium. "A kid from Maryland going into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.