Sonics' Durant will get rookie of year

Kevin Durant, who led all first-year players in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage, will be named the NBA's rookie of the year and become the first Sonics player to win the award.

Two league sources confirmed Durant outdistanced second-place finisher Al Horford, an Atlanta forward. The sources spoke anonymously because the official announcement is scheduled for Thursday.

Durant, who has spent the past couple of weeks in his hometown of Washington, D.C., will collect the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy at a team function in downtown Seattle.

The selection is hardly a surprise.

The Sonics shooting guard became the favorite to win the award at the start of the season when Portland center Greg Oden, the first player taken in last year's draft, underwent season-ending knee surgery.

Durant, the second overall pick, left Texas after his freshman season. He had no difficulty adapting to the NBA. Durant immediately became the centerpiece of a young Sonics team, along with fellow rookie Jeff Green.

Durant, 19, collected five of the six Western Conference rookie of the month honors, but the Sonics were losers. The team finished with a 20-62 record, the worst in the 41-year history of the franchise.

A few NBA observers, including TNT analyst Charles Barkley, believed Horford is more deserving of the award because he averaged 10.1 points and 9.7 rebounds and helped the Hawks end a nine-year playoff drought.

Houston coach Rick Adelman lobbied hard for Luis Scola, saying the Rockets would not have finished fifth in the West without the 28-year-old forward who averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds.

Still it was impossible for a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to overlook Durant's sensational scoring ability.

Only six rookies averaged at least 10 points, and Durant led everyone with a 20.3 average that was 7.6 points higher than the Los Angeles Clippers' Al Thornton (12.7).

Durant's scoring average is the highest for a rookie since LeBron James finished the 2003-04 season with a 20.9 average. Only three of the past 10 rookie winners (Durant, James and Elton Brand) have averaged at least 20 points in their first season.

In 80 games, Durant was first among rookies in assists (192), free-throw percentage (87.3), free throws attempted (448) and made (391), and minutes per game (34.6). He was second in steals (78) and third in field-goal percentage (43.0), blocks per game (.84) and three-point field goals (59).

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com