KD was named a starter on the 2012 Western Conference All-Star team after receiving 1,345,566 votes, second most in the Western Conference, the NBA announced today.

This will mark KD’s third career All-Star appearance and his second as a starter. During last year’s game played at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, KD was the game’s second leading scorer after recording 34 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes.

This season, KD has helped lead the Thunder to a NBA-best 17-4 record while averaging 26.6 points (3rd in the NBA), a team-high 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 37.1 minutes. Through the first six weeks of the season, Durant has recorded eight double-doubles and he became the first player in franchise history to open the season with four consecutive 30-point scoring efforts.

The 2012 NBA All-Star Game, which will air live at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and ESPN Radio in the U.S., and reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages, will be played at Amway Center in Orlando – on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012.

UPDATE: The Nike Zoom KD IV is currently available on NIKEiD HERE.

On January 31st, Kevin’s Nike Zoom KD IV signature shoe will be hitting NIKEiD. Here’s a preview of what you can expect. Do you plan on customizing a pair for yourself?

KD had his 4th straight 30 point game to start the 2012 season, helping the Thunder defeat the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. KD’s performance was topped off by a great game winning 3 pointer. The three pointer came following Vince Carter hitting a three pointer in the final seconds that looked like it would end up being the game winner for the Mavs. That is, until KD got one last shot.

The Thunder have started the season with 4 straight victories. They’ll take on the Pheonix Suns in OKC on Saturday night.

UPDATE: The Nike Zoom KD IV is now available at Nikestore.com

Launching December 3, the Nike Zoom KD IV features the new Adaptive Fit system, Hyperfuse construction and a Zoom Air unit – a versatile combination for one of basketball’s most electric players.

The Nike Zoom KD IV was built to the exact specifications of Durant, who is closely involved in the design process with Nike Basketball Footwear Design Director Leo Chang. Chang has led the design for all four of Durant’s Nike signature shoes since 2008. Incorporated for the first time in a basketball shoe, the new Adaptive Fit system provides a lock-down fit with a synthetic strap that wraps up from the inside of the upper and integrates with the laces for superior fit and lateral support.

The Hyperfuse construction on the upper is a composite of three different layers of material that are fused together using a pressing process to create a nearly seamless, one-piece upper that is lightweight, breathable and durable. Furthermore, the Nike Zoom unit in the forefoot provides lightweight, low-profile and responsive cushioning. Lastly, a low collar design provides optimal support and flexibility through the ankle and makes this a versatile shoe for multiple positions on the court.

As Kevin evolves as a basketball player so do his shoes. “First and foremost my shoe needs to be comfortable – it felt like I had been playing with them the whole season. The Adaptive Fit system is a customized feel and locks me in,” said Durant.

Designed with direct insights from Kevin Durant and his lineage, the Nike Zoom KD IV pays tribute to his team and family with details incorporated into the outsole including a lightning bolt traction pattern representing KD’s team and “Big Chucky” on the heel which pays tribute to KD’s late childhood mentor and coach. The initials “WP” in the shape of a heart on each toe represent Kevin’s parents and “Barbara” is his grandmother’s name. Personal messages as “Work Hard” and “Stay Focused” are printed also on the outsole.

The Nike Zoom KD IV is available at retailers globally beginning December 3, 2011.

Early Monday afternoon, KD tweeted something about being bored and wanting to play flag football. Immediately, an Oklahoma State student named George Overbey replied to KD with a intramural game invite. The next thing you know, the NBA’s leading scorer is down in Stillwater doing his best Michael Vick impersonation with a bunch of co-eds. Have you ever seen a 6’10″ quarterback before?

Kevin recorded 4 touchdowns as a QB and did his best Deion Sanders impersonation on defense by securing 3 interceptions.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF KT KING

Take a look at the upcoming Nike Zoom KD IV NERF colorway set to release in the coming months. Kevin debuted the colorway at his OKC charity game this past weekend. Most of us cut our basketball playing teeth on a NERF hoop, and the shoe pays tribute to that.

KEVIN DURANT HAS SEEN THE YOUTUBE VIDEOS. The ones where he drains so many threes the crowd rushes the court to touch the hem of his garment. The ones where his step-backs and crossovers turn defenders into extras from The Walking Dead. The ones where, with his Bambi gait, he shuts down more crap than Congress. The ones where he out-LeBrons LeBron. On his extended summer vacation, Durant took his game to the playground courts of LA, DC and NYC. The highlights became the “Lazy Sunday” of the lockout. On them, freed from the formality of the NBA, Durant plays with frivolity. Nothing is at stake. The game is just the game. And he is just a kid, standing on the court, letting the crowd love him.

DURANT RAINED 48 POINTS at the CP3 Foundation All-Star Game in early October. Scored 50 a week later at the Drew vs. Goodman rematch. In one now-legendary August game at Harlem’s Rucker Park, he dropped 66 points, his shots falling hard like a fat lady’s pants. There were more than 150 clips of the game on YouTube.

By mid-October, the most popular one, Kevin Durant Catches Fire in Harlem, had 3.2 million views. To watch it is to witness a crowd growing incredulous, then delirious. To watch it is to see a man having a moment.

It’s a month after the videos first began circulating, and Durant is eating wings at Hooters. He does not register the orange-and-tan waitresses or their tank tops. His eyes are fixed on flat screens and football. “This summer?” he asks, wrinkling his forehead. “All I was doing was hooping. I didn’t feel any different. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t done before.”

When told that the word going around the hoops world is that the games prove he’s finally grown up, that baby Durant has at long last become a man, that he’ll emerge from the lockout as the league’s new alpha male and claim a fistful of rings for his long-suffering franchise, he scoffs. “I did it because I wanted to play,” he says. “Simple.”

At 23, Durant looks both older and younger than he is. His face still stubbornly holds on to its round-cheeked boyishness, a teenage Jamie Foxx. But his eyes seem from another, darker time — wiser, more resigned. Durant insists that the player people swooned over on the playground is the same player who dons the royal-blue Thunder uniform. He figures that the lockout just left people hungry, that a saltine tastes like steak to a starving man.

“I felt like I was just being me,” he says, swallowing a fried cheese stick. His pickup games were not, he stresses, about PR, nor were they about staying in the lockout limelight. “I was actually surprised by the attention it got,” he says with some chagrin. “I wasn’t doing it to get noticed.”

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BEAVERTON, Ore. (September 9, 2011) – Nike today announced that 1500 pairs of the mythical 2011 NIKE MAG shoes will be auctioned on eBay, nikemag.eBay.com, with all net proceeds going directly to The Michael J. Fox Foundation.

“This project is exciting to me because it brings together three very passionate audiences: the Parkinson’s community, sneakerheads and Back to the Future fans,” said Michael J. Fox. “With their support we can accelerate our objective of finding a cure for Parkinson’s.”

The NIKE MAG shoes originally captured the imagination of audiences in Back to the Future II, when the character Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, wore them in the year 2015. Nike has been urged to release the shoes for many years. Leading up to the release of the 2011 NIKE MAG, a generous 50 million dollar match grant was given to the Michael J. Fox Foundation by Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki. They will match all donations to the foundation, up to 50 million dollars, through the end of 2012. The timing seemed perfect to bring the 2011 NIKE MAG back to support a bigger idea.

“We wanted to translate the excitement people have for the ‘greatest shoe never made’ and for the Back to the Future into positive action,” said Mark Parker, Nike CEO, who was on the Back to the Future II set in 1988 when Fox donned the original NIKE MAG shoes. “But the long-term objective is to raise awareness so the Foundation can achieve their goal of eradicating Parkinson’s disease.”

When the original Back to the Future creative team learned of Nike’s desire to support Fox’s foundation with the release of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes, Executive Producer Frank Marshall joined the effort. A concept was hatched to develop a ‘Lost Scene’ to honor the original Back to the Future films and characters, capturing Doc Brown’s efforts to make Marty ‘fit in’ during his visit to 2015.

Original cast members Christopher Lloyd and Donald Fullilove reprise their beloved roles and actor Bill Hader and basketball star Kevin Durant join the Back to the Future legacy as store clerk and customer. The sales manager is played by original NIKE MAG designer and Vice President of Design at Nike, Tinker Hatfield, who also oversaw the development of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoe. Hatfield indifferently informs Lloyd he has landed in the wrong year and the power lacing NIKE MAG shoes he is seeking for Marty McFly won’t be available until 2015. The film was created in collaboration with Wieden + Kennedy and features :60, :90 and two-minute versions.

The first rechargeable footwear from Nike, the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes were designed to be precise replicas of the originals from Back to the Future II. The aesthetic is an exact match, down to the contours of the upper, the glowing LED panel and the electroluminescent NIKE in the strap. The only deviation from the original is additional foam support in the ankle and toe box for increased comfort. The 2011 NIKE MAG illuminates with the pinch of the “ear” of the high top, glowing for five hours per charge.

Nike has donated 1500 pairs of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research, which will be available on eBay at nikemag.eBay.com. Each day for the duration of the ten-day auction, one hundred and fifty pairs of the 2011 NIKE MAG shoes will be made available via eBay’s Fashion Vault, a differentiated platform for select designer and branded fashion events. The auction starts today and will end September 18. In addition, the shoes are listed using eBay Giving Works, the company’s innovative online philanthropy program that enables millions of people to easily connect with and donate to organizations they care about. The auction is managed by Auction Cause for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

We’ve already seen KD put on a show at the Drew League in Los Angeles and the Goodman League in D.C. this summer. On Monday night, KD decided it was time to take his game to the mecca of streetball, and dropped 66 points at the Rucker Park’s EBC league. Here are a few highlights from KD’s performance last night.

KD just wrapped up his 2011 Tour of China with Nike Basketball. The four city tour took him to Guangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin and Beijing. Throughout the tour KD worked out with locals, immersed himself in Chinese culture and shared his story on how he turned years of hard work into a lifetime glory. You can find all of the coverage of KD’s 2011 China Tour at HERE.