For the last couple of weeks, I have been talking to people about Kevin Durant.

And there are two stories emerging here.

First of all, he's an incredible prospect.

Agent Bill Duffy's comments are typical of what I have heard from several people in the know. "I have watched players for a long time, and I don't know that there's anyone he reminds me of," says Duffy. "I think he's a game-changer. They say he's 6-9 but it's really like he's 7-2 because his arms are so long. I have never seen someone with longer arms. He might never get his shot blocked. And he has a great attitude, work ethic, purpose, focus, range on his shot, ball-handling, passing, slashing... and when he's 25, he'll be so much stronger. He doesn't have a lot of muscle definition because he's still a kid."

Several agents tell me Durant is a candidate to be the top overall pick. In the Greg Oden draft.

Exciting stuff for a young man who seems to have his head in the right place and a family that really cares about him.

Here is a good Kevin Durant background story, and another one about Durant's choice of Texas. And some video.

The second story line that's emerging, however, is that from the perspective of all those people out there who recruit NBA talent (agents, shoe companies, etc.) Durant is widely regarded as the prize of the draft.

Why Durant and not Oden or Joakim Noah? Well, from an agent's perspective, Durant is the one who is considered to be still shopping. Every agent I talked expects Greg Oden to be represented by the father of his teammate Mike Conley Jr. (Can you guess what the father's name is?) Mike Conley, Sr. is a former Olympian, Oden's former AAU coach, and by all reports a savvy businessman.

Noah, meanwhile, is expected to be represented by the same agent who has represented his father, former tennis star Yannick Noah.

Oden and Noah are both also big men, who traditionally don't command the same kind of marketing dollars as those athletic wing players who make all the highlight reels.

Indeed his college coach has said that Durant might leap to the NBA after just one year not so much because he's getting pressure from agents, but because he's getting pressure from the shoe companies.

Which means the recruiting action is in Austin these days, where everyone is trying to get the player's attention, and in the Washington D.C. area where Durant's parents (Wayne and Wanda Pratt) and their closest confidants (Taras "Stink" Brown) live.

Sources confirm that, essentially every major NBA agent is making a run at recruiting Durant. Some names that have come up in particular:

• Arn Tellem's Wasserman Media Group Many believe Tellem is the front runner, because the last two blue-chippers from Rick Barnes' program, T.J. Ford and LaMarcus Aldridge, have signed with Tellem--which would seem to indicate some kind of bond between coach and agent.
  
• Rose Professional Management (Now CAA) It is known that the star of the Rose camp, LeBron James, has met Durant. Two agents suggested to me that Rose and William Wesley might be using James to lure Durant.
• BDA Sports Sources confirm Bill Duffy's company, which represents the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Yao Ming, and Steve Nash, is in pursuit.
• Williams & Connelly The D.C. firm of Lon Babby and Jim Tanner represents Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, and the like. Sources confirm they are also in the hunt.