Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant, who has been sidelined during the 2019-20 NBA season with an Achilles injury, possesses many accolades during his decade-plus distinguished playing career. Among Durant's achievements are two gold medals at Summer Olympic Games with the U.S. men's national team and a gold medal at the 2010 FIBA World Cup in Turkey.

Former teammate with the Golden State Warriors Andre Iguodala, who also played alongside Durant on Team USA in 2010, called Durant's performance in the international tournament the dawning of the stretch four.

Per Sean Highkin in Bleacher Report:

“Even without any of the Olympians in the mix, the NBA had no shortage of talented players for the national team to choose from. Durant was already being positioned as the post-LeBron face of the league, so he was a no-brainer. His star had been steadily rising in his first three seasons, and he had just won the 2009-10 NBA scoring title. But for all intents and purposes, the FIBA World Championship tournament was the moment he became Kevin Durant, the future Hall of Famer and all-time great scorer and all-around player he's been for the past decade.

“‘I had never seen anybody dominate basketball games the way he did that whole entire tournament,' Iguodala says. ‘We had him at the [power forward], and it was like a stretch 4 before everybody was doing that. Teams didn't know who to put on him. He's seven feet tall, he can score inside and outside. It was one of the basketball displays that I think gets overlooked because we didn't have a household name quite yet. But he became it.

Durant, among several of his contemporaries, led the charge for power forwards to shoot the long ball, stretching beyond the three-point line routinely in recent years. Prior to the last decade, with a few exceptions, most power forwards were traditionally playing with their backs to the basket and focus on offense in the post.

Durant's performance for Team USA in 2010 seems to have changed the tide in the NBA. Or, at least that's how his former teammate sees it.