The L.A. Clippers have surprised many this season with their stellar play to start the season, including Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant.

Although they've lost three of their last four games, the Clippers now have a record of 17-10, which remains among the top of the Western Conference. L.A. is fifth in the NBA in scoring on the backs of Tobias Harris, Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams, and rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Durant made an appearance on Bill Simmons' podcast Wednesday and the two discussed a number of topics, including which young player has impressed him the most. Of all the players Durant could pick from, he highlighted the 11th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Clippers rookie Gilgeous-Alexander.

ā€œWe played against them earlier in the year, and manā€¦ He got the midrange down,ā€ said Durant, clearly impressed. ā€œHis midrange is so good. He's shooting with a high release so it's hard to block at 6'6ā€ when a point guard's guarding him, so you gotta put a two guard on him. And he still shooting over two guards.

ā€œSo Iā€™m like, man, that size at that ageā€¦ And once you learn how to shoot the midrange, I feel like the three-ball is gonna be easier for you to shoot. Heā€™s knocking them down consistently. I like that heā€™s tall, too, for that position. He's probably the guy that stood out the most because I never watched him in college. He got confidence in him.ā€

In a way, Durant is similar to Gilgeous-Alexander in that he's tall and lengthy for his position. Durant is widely considered one of the best scorers in NBA history, and a lot of it has to do with his size and ability to get whatever shot he wanted.

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ā€œHe got length on him at the point guard position, his arms are long, and he can shoot it,ā€ added Durant. ā€œHeā€™s got confidence. He got confidence on him.ā€

The conversation between Simmons and Durant kept going, and aside from Gilgeous-Alexander, Durant went on to praise the Clippers as well.

ā€œMan, Clippers got a nice team,ā€ Durant told Simmons.

As most know, Durant will hit unrestricted free agency this summer, and the Clippers are one team that will strongly pursue the two-time champion. In fact, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the Clippers have been sending reps to Warriors games to scout Durant.

Could this be a simple praising of a young, impressive player, or is Durant possibly eyeing his future teammate?