Kevin Durant is the leader the Suns need, no matter what media personalities say

The career of Kevin Durant has been... complicated. Now 18 seasons in though, and if anything it only continues to get more impressive. The 36-year-old beginning to creep into LeBron James' territory in terms of longevity in this league, despite having far worse injuries than his superstar friend on the Los Angeles Lakers.

What Durant has unfortuantely never had - and his own actions partly explain this - is the narrative to go with his all-time game on both ends of the court. James brought a championship to the Cleveland Cavaliers having been a villain with the Miami Heat, while Stephen Curry became the smaller guard who changed the game and won titles with his 3-point shooting for the Golden State Warriors.

But Durant is right to make a stand in the face of new scrutiny.

Durant was speaking with Doug Haller The Athletic after a win over the Portland Trail Blazers recently, and the topic of his leadership - or lack thereof - reared its head again. This came about as a result of some unsavory comments from media personality Stephen A. Smith about Durant, and he did not hold back in his response -

"Yeah, Stephen A., I don’t understand how people even listen to Stephen A. I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I’ve never seen Stephen A. at a practice, or a film session, or a shoot-around. I’ve never seen him anywhere but on TV talking s--- about players. … He’s a clown to me. He’s always been a clown. You can write that, too."

Durant has for years now been an easy target to pick on in the media, both because of the constant trade rumors that surround him, and the fact he's been known to bite back on social media. But if there's one thing he is not, it is a bad leader and a bad teammate. There's only ever really been one moment that this could be questioned.

But we think with the benefit of hindsight - just ask Jordan Poole - Draymond Green appears to be one of the more difficult individuals to get on with in the league, so we can't blame that solely on Durant. Contrast that with his time in The Valley, which has seen him form a wonderful bond with franchise cornerstone Devin Booker.

They went to the Olympic Games together - and hung out in the offseason afterwards - while Durant has always backed up his teammates to the media. Take Bol Bol for example, yet to appear in a single game this season, but who has worked out with Durant in the past and who he clearly took under his wing in the league once they became teammates in Phoenix.

Durant was one of the driving forces in getting himself, Kyrie Irving and James Harden together on the Brooklyn Nets, while he managed to exist alongside Russell Westbrook on the Oklahoma City Thunder for the guts of a decade. None of that screams bad teammate, while his demeanour around the coaching staff, teammates and fans in Phoenix has been great as well.

It feels like Smith felt he could get away with commenting on Durant's leadership in much the same way everybody tries to trade Durant all over the league, only there's on key difference between the two. Durant doesn't care about trade rumors because he knows they're all nonsense and his previous movement makes him an easy person to stick in these hypothetical conversations.

Even now - despite both Durant and the Suns clearly happy with one another - rumblings of a reunion with some of his pals on the Houston Rockets persist. Talk about his leadership though, and that rightly gets his full attention because that calls into question Durant's love for the game and his teammates, something that should never be queried.

Few love the game the way Durant does, you need only go back to last year's playoffs to see that on show. Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves swept the Suns, with "Ant" jawing at his idol throughout the quick series. Yet all Durant could do was laugh, he loves the competition and the game and is here for all of that stuff. That includes being a leader, which he does in his own way.

There are those who lead by being physically imposing, but then there are the quieter ones who simply show up and do it by example. To the public at least, Durant falls into the latter category. Not only is that perfectly ok, it is actually completely in like with Booker and the Suns organization as currently constructed. He's the perfect player and leader, at the perfect time in Phoenix.