Durant honoured Raptors' Koloko wears his No. 35, except that it 'shows I'm getting old'

Kevin Durant is a two-time NBA champion, four-time scoring leader and one of the most gifted basketball players to grace the earth, so it's only natural players coming into the league today grew up idolizing him.

One of them is Toronto Raptors rookie Christian Koloko, who dons the same No. 35 Durant wore with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors.

And although Durant, who's since switched to No. 7 with the Brooklyn Nets, is honoured, he doesn't like that it reminds him of the inevitable losing battle to Father Time.

"That just shows I'm getting old. Every time I hear stuff like that, I'm like 'alright, you watched me grow up,'" said Durant, smiling. "S---, I just feel old."

Durant has a point. Koloko, who's 22 to Durant's 34, said after he was drafted by the Raptors that Durant was his favourite player when he "started" playing basketball, meaning the Nets star was already established as a star in the NBA — not that it took very long.

But all jokes aside, Durant thought it was "cool" to see Koloko sporting not only his No. 35, but his signature "KD" Nike sneakers too.

"I always appreciated stuff like that, you never know who's watching you when you're out there doing your thing. You wanna inspire and ignite whoever's watching in some way, some shape or form, so it's always cool hearing stuff like that and I seen him wearing my shoes tonight and 35, so that's cool."

Toronto selected Koloko, a seven-foot-one centre who shares the same hometown as Pascal Siakam in Cameroon, 33rd overall in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Koloko impressed in his NBA debut Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, grabbing three points and six rebounds, plus a block in just 15 minutes off the bench as the Raptors won.

Toronto lost Friday's contest to the Nets, Koloko had one point, two rebounds and a block, while Durant was his average self, going 27-5-6.