Kevin Durant Travels to China

The Nike-organized event featured Durant and James Harden coaching 40 high school players.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:46 am

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jun 4, 2010 11:42 AM CDT

Dave Carty
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

BEIJING -- Hundreds of young Chinese basketball players and fans attended a Nike-organized training clinic hosted by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant.

Durant visited the Chinese capital of Beijing along with teammate James Harden as part of a three-day trip promoting the launch of his new basketball shoes.

40 promising high school players were treated to a clinic with the NBA's defending scoring champion and Harden in the backdrop of China's Great Wall.

"I think, you know, being a scoring champ is a great honor of course," said Durant at the event. "Everybody watches the NBA. Not so many people know who we were as a team and I think that [being the scoring champ] kind of shines a bright light on our team, makes people realize that Oklahoma City Thunder is a team that should be good down the line and also has some good players."

18-year-old Wang Wei was thrilled with the chance to meet his hero.

"Durant is my favorite NBA star," he said. "It feels very to play cool with him. His skills are amazing and he especially has a nice hand touch when he shoots jump shots."

Learning an official NBA warm-up was also helpful to the aspiring basketball players.

"The NBA warm-up practice is very professional," 19-year-old Wang Peng said. "We used to practice very prematurely, exposing us to injures while playing games. But after I learned the NBA-style of warming up, I think it is less likely for me to get injured in the future."

China has been seen as a breeding ground for NBA business and marketing expansion in recent years, seeing other similar promotional tours in the country.