Thunder Insider: Healthy choices at meal time will benefit Kevin Durant

Each year, the gawking eyes are wondering one thing.

How much weight has Durant put on?

Whenever the NBA lockout is lifted, this year will be no different, regardless of how many points and highlights Durant has supplied this summer in what's become his nationwide street ball tour.

It seems most observers still want Durant to bulk up. To add tens of pounds to his frame in order to become an even more dominant player. It seems everyone expects, better yet wants, that transformation to magically take place in one summer.

Everyone except Durant and the Thunder.

“He's always going to be thin,” said Thunder forward Nick Collison. “I don't think you want him to bulk up. You always get concerned when you hear about a guy coming back to camp with 15 pounds of muscle because it totally changes his body and he might not be able to play the same way. So I don't think that's something he needs to do.”

The truth is, at this point, the Thunder is far more concerned with Durant chilling out on chicken wings rather than increasing his chest press numbers. Because Durant, roughly three weeks shy of his 23 birthday, still has a tendency to eat like a college kid.

“I could eat a lot better,” Durant recently admitted.

The two-time scoring champ can cram wings with the best of them. Durant loves them so much that Wingstop this year was a sponsor at his annual basketball camp in Oklahoma City, and there's been talk of Durant possibly signing on as a spokesman for the Texas-based chain. It's just one of his many food fetishes.

But after four seasons, Durant is finally figuring out the importance of healthier choices. As a naturally skinny person, Durant isn't likely to ever undergo the transformation most would prefer. Eating better, however, could help offset his inability to bulk up. It could improve Durant's conditioning and help protect that frail but growing frame.