It's possible Kevin Durant will be LeBron's Rival when Kobe retires, but I think it's premature to say that. Many factors contribute to calling two superstar players a rivalry. Back in the Magic Johnson and Larry Bird days, they had a rivalry because they ran into each other in the finals multiple times. That's not even the case for LeBron and Kobe, their rivalry is almost completely made up for commercial reasons, they haven't even met one time in the NBA finals. I guess they are rivals for the MVP award and who's THE best player in the NBA, I think that's ok. But Durant has ways to go before we can say that he will be competing LeBron on that level. There are a lot of great players than never made it to that level. Look at Dywayne Wade.
The Thunder has a lot of young talent, and if I had any respect for the people in charge of the franchise, I would expect them to be relevant in a few more years. But I don't. That being said, I don't see another young player in the league with the tools Durant has. Wade is great, but he is injury prone, and 6 years older than Durant. So until another young phenom comes into the league, I'd think Durant would be the front runner. Either that or Kobe will play into his 50s.
You can make an argument that all the greats have had rivals or an enemy, if you will, in any sport, show, or type of modern media.
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