NEW YORK, Jan. 3, 2012 – The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant and the Miami Heat’s LeBron James today were named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Sunday, Dec. 25, through Sunday, Jan. 1.

Durant helped the Thunder to a 5-0 start as well, averaging a Western Conference-best 27.4 points (second overall), while shooting .547 from the field and .500 from beyond the arc. Durant opened the 2011-12 campaign with four 30-plus-point performances. He recorded a double-double – 30 points and 11 rebounds – in a 104-102 win over the Mavericks Dec. 29.

James guided the Heat to a 5-0 record to start the season, including an opening-night victory over the Dallas Mavericks in a rematch of the 2011 Finals. James led the league in scoring (29.6 ppg), paced the conference in steals (2.40 spg), and averaged a team high in assists (6.6 apg). James scored 34 or more points on three occasions, including 37 in Miami’s 105-94 win at Dallas Dec. 25.

Here is a recap of the week for Durant and James:

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
*Dec. 25 vs. Orlando: Tallied 30 points, six assists and five rebounds in a 97-89 win over the Magic.

*Dec. 28 @ Memphis: Posted 32 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in a 98-95 road victory over the Grizzlies.

*Dec. 29 vs. Dallas: Recorded a 30-point, 11-rebound double-double in a 104-102 home win over the Mavericks.

LeBron James, Miami Heat
*Dec. 25 @ Dallas: Recorded 37 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a 105-94 win at Dallas.

*Dec. 28 @ Charlotte: Tallied 35 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in a 96-95 road victory.

*Dec. 30 @ Minnesota: Recorded a 34-point, 10-assist double-double, and added eight assists and four steals in a 103-101 win at Minnesota.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Houston’s Kyle Lowry, Indiana’s Roy Hibbert, New York’s Carmelo Anthony, Minnesota’s Kevin Love, Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Phoenix’s Steve Nash.

In ESPN’s preseason poll of 30 of its NBA writers, 12 predicted KD to win the 2012 NBA MVP, while 11 believe it will be LeBron and 7 think it will be Chris Paul. What’s your predicting for 2012 NBA MVP?

I hated losing to LeBron’s squad in flag football on Wednesday night, but had a lot of fun out there. We came up just short, losing by one touchdown after being down big in the second half. I caught one touchdown and had a 108 yard “pick-6″. Here’s a photo with my teammates. You know we had to represent with the Longhorns colors!

And here’s a video of my 108 yard “pick-6″:

Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.

Recently KD went to Akron, Ohio to work out with his friend LeBron James. Check out how it all went down.

Hear what Basketball Never Stops means to KD, LeBron, Amar’e, Dirk, Sue Bird, Coach K, Questlove, and J. Cole.

KD joined fellow Nike Basketball stars Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Sue Bird and Amare Stoudemire in the new Nike Basketball “Basketball Never Stops” campaign.

Despite the NBA lockout, KD has been seeding the idea of “Basketball Never Stops” by participating in pro-ams and charity games for fans across the globe the entire off-season.

Musicians Questlove and J Cole also star in the spot.

Here are some highlights from KD’s OKC charity game. All-Stars such as LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony also took part in the game.

Check out episode 2 of KD’s web series “35th Hour”. In this episode, KD gives us an inside look at his off-season workout routine and his experience playing against Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Chris Paul in the Goodman League v. Melo League showdown.

In addition to the second episode, KD also released a bonus feature explaining his thoughts on the episode:

Look out for more episodes of the 35th Hour in the very near future.

By Michael Lee

About an hour before the most star-studded summer league game tipped off at Morgan State’s Hill Field House, I spotted Goodman League commissioner and master of ceremony for the night, Miles Rawls, and asked him about when his team was going to have a rematch against the Drew League in Los Angeles. Rawls again mentioned that they are looking at getting together on Sept. 25, but added that the Drew League is still trying to get Kobe Bryant involved in some way.

“K.D. wants Kobe, doesn’t he,” I asked Rawls, since District native Kevin Durant had already told Brandon Jennings the night before on Twitter that he wanted to see Bryant playing for the Drew League the next time the teams square off.

Rawls nodded and said, “You know K.D. ain’t ducking nobody.”

Rawls words would prove to be on point later in the evening, as the late-arriving Durant eagerly accepted the challenge of being the lone all-star for the Goodman League against the all-star trio of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul that led the Melo League.

“Playing against those guys was a lot of fun for me. I’m excited I got that opportunity playing against some great players, playing with some great players as well,” Durant said after his team lost, 149-141, in a game that was lopsided until the final five minutes.

Durant was aided by NBA players Jeff Green, Trevor Austin Daye, Roger Mason Jr., and Jarrett Jack, but the matchup against the Melo All-Stars was incredibly unfair — especially with DeMarcus Cousins and Jennings failing to appear, for some reason, placing more pressure on Durant. The Melo all-stars also had the high-flying Eric Bledsoe and Josh Selby, and the sharp-shooting Gary Neal to carry the load when the Big Three wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard.

Durant scored 59 points, but for most of the night, it felt like watching the Eastern Conference Finals, when James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to make Derrick Rose resemble a helpless one-way show. Rawls mentioned during the third quarter that Durant was “doing everything but cleaning the floor” but he couldn’t outscore James, Paul and Anthony all alone.

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Two of the NBA’s top superstars went head-to-head yesterday at the Goodman League v. Melo League showdown in Baltimore. KD held his own against LeBron, finishing with 59 points, while LeBron finished with 36. The two superstars went at each other all night and gave us some highlights to remember. Check them out below!

Shout out to Ball is Life and hoopmixtape for the footage.