Kevin Durant appreciates Dwight Howard's kind words, says he's not on LeBron James' level yet

Durant relayed a message to Howard. "I appreciate the kind words," Durant said, "but I don't think that I'm on his (James') level yet."

Exactly how far behind James is Durant? A skosh? A teeny weenie bit? A little bit more than that?

James and Durant face each other Friday when the Thunder and Miami Heat meet in a 7:30 p.m. exhibition game at the Sprint Center. The way Durant spoke after Thursday's practice, you'd think he didn't belong in the same county as James, let alone the same city.

"To be honest, I don't think I'm (in the) top 15 or top 20 guys in the league. Honestly," said a stone-faced Durant. "There's a lot of great players in this league who can do more than me as far as being game-changers. I have a lot to work on. I'm not saying that just to say that. I'm being real. I can name a lot of guys who I think are more advanced than me in the game."

Like who?

"I'm not going to get into that," Durant said. "It's not about me being better than those guys. It's about my team trying to be better than their team. That's what I'm worried about."

This past summer brought the most high-powered free-agent class in league history, during which James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade decided to join forces in Miami and immediately transformed the Heat into a championship contender.

While James considered staying in Cleveland and flirted with other top bidders such as the Knicks, Nets and Bulls, Durant quietly sent a message via Twitter that he had agreed to a five-year extension with the Thunder.

The sports world became even more enamored with Durant, but venom has since been spewed at James for the manner in which he handled the entire situation, which included an hour-long special on ESPN to announce his decision and the lack of respect he showed the city of Cleveland, its fans and his former teammates.