After winning back-to-back championships and back-to-back Finals MVP awards as a member of the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant has most likely reached the pinnacle of his NBA career.Although he is fortunate enough to play alongside All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Durant stood out and delivered consistently-dominant performances on both ends of the court throughout his time in Golden State.Shortly before winning Game 4, Durant made it perfectly clear that he wants to be a Warrior again next season. He’s expected to decline his player option for next season and thus become an unrestricted free agent. But, Golden State can offer him a four-year extension in the area of $160 million, so he will likely opt out to re-sign for financial reasons.Since he famously sacrificed salary in order to keep the team’s core together last summer, it’ll now be his time to cash in.As one of the best scorers in NBA history and arguably the toughest player in the league to defend, KD’s legacy has been a topic of conversation in recent days.With 20,913 career points and at 29 years old, he’s regarded as one of the few players with the potential to eventually catch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s longstanding record of 38,387 points.

But, that might not happen. He might not even try to get there.

"This game, your craft, you have to continue studying it," Durant told Chris Haynes of ESPN on Friday. "No matter how much you enjoy it, nobody wants to be in school that long. I know I don't. At some point, you have to be ready to graduate. Thirty-five, that's just a number in my mind.”

If he ends up retiring at 35 years old, that'd mean he would play five more seasons.

"I heard him say that, but I'll believe it when it happens," Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman said in response.

Record chasing

When asked why he doesn’t care about the scoring record, Durant made it clear that he will not define his career by statistics.

"Because it's not about [the record]," Durant said. "I can leave the game knowing I did everything I wanted to do, my way, on my terms. That's how I want to leave the game. And if I happen to have all these accolades and these accomplishments, then that's cool. If not, I'm still cool. … So I don't think that's going to define me as a player. It's a cool accomplishment to be up there with the greats and to be considered someone who can potentially chase that, or beat that, but I'm not playing for that.”

Rather than focusing on numbers and records, it seems as though Durant cares more about how his game impacts viewers and, in particular, his fans.

"Especially if I continue to approach the game the right way every day like I've been doing, hell yeah. Hell yeah I can move on," he said. "No matter how many points I score, no matter how many people I pass up, no matter how many points I leave on the table, my legacy, as we always like to talk about, I can go up and ask any person who has ever seen me play and they'll have a different way of viewing my game. So it's hard for me to go out there and play for that type of stuff because it changes through so many people. So many groups of people probably view my game differently. So, it's hard for me to focus on that."

"But I will focus on the people that love me the most, that encourage me, that pour into me and vice versa. I value what they say and how they feel about me more so than anything because that's who I really went through this journey with, those people. That's what my legacy lies in. I know they're going to view it as a perfect career no matter what,” he added.

Durant also noted that he doesn’t have any clue about what he will do after he retires, but that multiple doors will be open for him.

Judging by all of his recent success, it was shocking to hear Durant bring up the concept of retirement. If he does in fact walk away at 35, “what ifs” will always exist when reflecting on his career and legacy.