Kevin Durant and the quiet pursuit of becoming the Greatest Scorer Ever
It’s the dog days of the enervating NBA schedule, a random Friday night matchup between the Warriors and Bulls at Oracle Arena. Only a week has passed since James Harden silenced Oakland with the shot of the year, and most of the discussion surrounding the team is on the imminent debut of DeMarcus Cousins, not their current play.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have just scored 58 combined points while hitting 11-of-22 three-pointers and stealing the show. The story of the night (and week) centered around Thompson breaking out of his weird shooting funk, as well as Curry becoming third all-time in career threes.
Standing in the shadows of this turnaround week for the Warriors is Kevin Durant, who clocks into work, does his damage, praises his teammates, and clocks out. There is nothing overly fascinating about Durant’s play versus the Knicks and Bulls, except the fact that he makes his performances look far too easy.
Durant has just executed the most unostentatious 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including a team-high +42 in the win over Chicago. It comes three days after delivering 24 points on just 14 shots versus New York, a night also overshadowed by Thompson’s 43-point massacre.
KD has an ability unlike any other NBA superstar.
He has no problem working in the background, inflicting pain on defenses as a secondary option on certain nights. If you close your eyes and think back to the Oklahoma City Thunder once 2015 arrived, you should remember the same thing. Durant willingly worked off Russell Westbrook’s playmaking and initial point of attack. There were plenty of games where he took five (or even 10) fewer shots than Westbrook, yet finished with similar or better scoring numbers.
Now in his third season within the Warriors’ culture, there are instances where he’s not even getting the second-most shot attempts. If Curry and Thompson are cooking, Durant doesn’t mind finding his opportunities organically and harnessing his passing traits to keep the offense flowing. His 10.5 potential assists and 44.5 passes per game this season are the most of his career.
Why does Durant rarely get worked up about his number of shooting possessions? Well, his efficiency is so sublime that he’s able to maximize the output regardless of volume.
“Being an all-time great scorer, that’s what he does,” Curry said. “He’s efficient and pretty low-maintenance. He had 11 shots tonight and they were all on his own timing.”
Curry, who understands the feeling of invincibility in his own manner, chuckles after his next line.
“And nobody can really do anything about it,” he said.
When the Warriors are exterminating opponents, it’s typically with the Splash Brothers in a zone that only their transcendent shooting levels can generate.
Thompson’s outbursts involve loud, consecutive triples on the break that trigger blowouts. The Curry flurries are raucous strings of 15 straight points to end a quarter, generally shifting the momentum in the blink of an eye.
Durant’s points are quiet.
The frenzy surrounding his mid-range jumpers, hesitation crossovers into drives, or transition pull-ups doesn’t mirror that of other lethal marksmen. But the carnage is the same.
There’s a calmness about Durant that’s unique. It wasn’t evident in Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or even prime LeBron James. When they decided to unleash and go on a scoring rampage, you felt it. Jordan and Bryant would knock down insane shots in the middle of talking trash, or James would drive the lane with such ferocity that everyone in the area would leap out of their seat. It was impossible for their explosions to quietly come and go.
Part of it points to Durant’s natural tranquility. Basketball aside, he doesn’t emit a powerful personality. As he repeatedly says, he’s just a hooper. All he wants to do is play ball and keep everything else on the backburner. Even on the court, though, there’s a large part of him that is perfectly fine with riding shotgun while Curry is behind the wheel. There’s little-to-no ego about Durant that prevents him from standing on the wing strictly for spacing, or being nothing but a screen-setter for five possessions in a row.
Or else he wouldn’t have joined the Warriors in 2016.
“It’s a testament to who he is as a teammate,” Curry said. “Understanding how we play a beautiful brand of basketball, he’s a part of all of that. Being a threat out there, whether he’s shooting or not, I think that’s something he enjoys as much as anybody. Whether he’s the one taking the shot or not, it’s just about how we’re playing, creating open looks, and just having fun working off each other. That goes a long way for him to be as excited about a night like tonight, where he’s 7-of-11 for 20-plus (points) … or if he’s 16-of-30 for 40 (points). It doesn’t matter, it’s just about how we play, him being involved, a threat, and doing what he does.”
Knowing when the switch should be flipped and recognizing when it’s time to take over a game through isolation are vital lessons Durant has learned throughout the years. It’s an equilibrium that can be extremely difficult for star players to achieve. When the team’s system is built on selfless offensive decision-making, it can be a fragile dynamic once a volume scorer walks into that environment.
But for Durant, it’s been close to a perfect marriage. When Curry has been out with injuries, Durant has gladly taken more of the offensive load. In the 11 games Curry missed in November, Durant took 23.5 shots per game, along with averaging 10.3 free throw attempts. He was scoring at the highest rate of his Warriors career during that month, which included a string of three games where he poured in 40-plus twice and a 51-point showcase in Toronto.
In the 46 games Durant has played with Curry this year, those shot attempts have dropped to 17.9 per game. It’s Curry that leads the team in shot volume, as he always should when you consider the weapon he brings.
Yet, by all accounts, Durant has embraced it. He’s not blind to the importance of playing within a system, fully aware that his one-on-one talents are bound to be remembered when all the chips are down.
Historical Scoring Dominance
Flying completely under the radar is how much Durant’s offensive career has exceeded the loftiest expectations when he left Texas as a freshman.
This year, in his 12th season, he will surpass the 850-game mark in the NBA. It’s almost criminal how that many games will be in his rearview mirror, holding an unprecedented combination of volume and efficiency, and people would still vehemently reject Durant being the greatest scorer in NBA history.
You can twist the definitions and argue semantics, but it’s the reality. There has never been a more talented, physically gifted, or effective scorer to produce points at a similar rate. Line up every legendary basketball icon in a row. Pick through their career résumés one-by-one. None will match or exceed the proficiency Durant has displayed since wearing the Seattle green and yellow in 2007.
The argument of whether or not “greatest” is the ideal adjective here is totally fair. For some, greatness is directly tied to longevity, and Durant won’t be near the top three in total points scored for quite a while — at least another five years.
However, once a player has accrued 800-plus games and starts enjoying his early thirties, the body of work should carry a lot of weight. Barring any catastrophic injuries, 12 years of service is more than enough to safely project how a player should finish their career, at least numbers-wise. When you’re dealing with excellent shooters that are suited to age well in today’s game, it benefits players such as Durant.
Determining the “best” scorer in NBA history just from the highest points-per-game average is incredibly flawed. Still, it’s somewhat impractical to argue that anyone below the 25-point mark (in career scoring) could be recognized with this intangible accolade. The one exception is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 years in the league and experienced a major statistical decline in the final stages. Because, duh, he was playing until age 41.
In the 72 seasons of the NBA’s existence, there have been 12 players to finish their careers with a scoring average of at least 25 points per game. Below, you will see all 12 plus the inclusion of Abdul-Jabbar, simply because his average dipped to 24.6 during his final season.
They are sorted by True Shooting Percentage, the best measure of scoring efficiency. It takes into account any shot a player attempts (including free throws) while increasing the value of three-pointers.
Durant leads the pack, managing 27.2 points per game on a torrid 61.2 percent true shooting:
First, some context: It’s not entirely fair for retired players to have their career numbers compared to current stars. Many of the legends from the past either suffered unfortunate injuries at the tail end of their careers, came out of retirement to prove a point (looking at you, Mike) or just appeared completely washed up during their last chapter.
Thus, when I compiled the numbers, this is what I removed:
- Wizards’ version of Michael Jordan
- Post-Achilles injury Kobe Bryant
- Allen Iverson after Denver
- Final two years of Oscar Robertson, Karl Malone, and George Gervin
- Final 11 games of Elgin Baylor
Why didn’t Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bob Pettit have any years removed? Well, they were actually efficient in their last two seasons. If the last part of a player’s career improved their overall percentages or kept it very similar, I counted them.
The reasoning was to create a level playing field. Current stars in this mix (Durant and James) will have their slower and less productive years once Father Time catches up. But until then, it makes the most sense to dismiss the farewell tours of the retired players in this comparison.
By the modern slash line, Durant is a 53 percent shooter from inside the arc, 38.2 percent shooter from three, and 88.2 percent converter at the free throw line.
Those aren’t just for this season. Those are career numbers, which is beyond absurd when you contextualize it in your head.
He is the only player in NBA history to maintain those efficiency benchmarks throughout a career. If you lower the requirements to 50–38–85, Durant is one of only 10 players to shoot that efficiently with at least 400 games played. Out of those 10, his 27.2 points per game is a tier above the next-highest player … his teammate Stephen Curry at 23.5 per game.
There are multiple players that have legitimate cases for the “greatest scorer of all time” label. Depending on who you ask, the list is either very short or elaborate.
Durant, James, Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, Chamberlain, Bryant, Curry, and this version of James Harden are the only ones that have strong enough arguments to stay afloat. Of course, that involves personal opinion, but it’s the only class of scorers I’ll usually entertain.
Nobody will warm the audience’s heart more than Jordan, who tends to lead this discussion for most fans. You can understand why — he won 10 scoring titles in 13 seasons as a Chicago Bull, averaged over 31 points on 58 percent true shooting before leaving town, and still elevated his scoring prowess to a ridiculous degree during the postseason.
The only true arguments against Jordan’s case as the unequivocal best scorer ever would be the much higher usage, lack of a deadly three-point shot, and longevity.
Jordan’s average usage rating during the Chicago era was a sky-high 33.5 percent. He had seven full-length seasons with at least 33 percent usage, including his third season when he lifted above 38 percent.
The amount of 33-plus usage years for Durant? One. Just one — his MVP year. Durant was never as prolific as Jordan in terms of firing every shot that he possibly could. He has always been more selective. So, given his career efficiency, it’s not hard to imagine him posting the MJ-like scoring averages if unloaded the chamber as many times during his prime. The most field goals Durant ever took, per game, was 20.8 during the 2014 MVP run. Jordan was only below 22 shots per game for two of his 13 Chicago years.
The game was far different in the 1990s compared to this era of basketball, where the three-pointer is the golden treasure. It’s almost amazing that such differing styles can be classified as the same sport. Jordan never needed to become an outside king because he was thrashing the league from the mid-range and restricted area.
But, MJ did shoot from the perimeter. He was a career 33.2 percent shooter from long-distance on 1.8 attempts per game. Durant, a seven-foot alien without range restrictions, has hit over 38 percent of his triples at a moderate volume (4.9 per game). Regardless if Jordan wanted or needed to extend his range, that difference has to matter in the debate. At some point, part of being the best scorer ever has to factor in the added efficiency of taking a 24-foot three-pointer over pulling up for a 22-foot two-pointer. If you convert it as often as Durant has, it certainly changes the discussion.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone have interesting cases. Those are built on longevity — scoring as many buckets as possible before getting too old to continue. One guy is the most accomplished center ever and the other is the most devastating pick-and-roll power forward in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar leads the historical pack with over 38,000 career points in 1,560 games (20 seasons). Malone is second with nearly 37,000 points accumulated in 1,476 games that stretched 19 seasons.
Sticking around until age 40 or 41 is admirable and shouldn’t be diminished in these conversations. Though, how much should it matter when comparing skill-sets and capabilities? There have to be two separate discussions here. The field of current NBA scorers is more skilled and versatile than most of the career leaders from the past, including Abdul-Jabbar and Malone. Nobody would be able to legitimately claim that Durant, James, Curry, and Harden don’t have a deeper arsenal of scoring weapons than both of those bigs.
There is no disrespect involved — Abdul-Jabbar’s sky-hook is still the most unguardable move because he mastered it, and Malone still deserves praise for his soft touch in the post and brilliant face-up jumpers. They just aren’t on the same level as what we’re seeing today. If you could guarantee 19 or 20 seasons from Durant or James, they would soar past the big men in the record books.
Wilt Chamberlain, who averaged 40.6 points per game from 1960 to 1965 in a six-season stretch that nobody will ever match, did not play against enough high-level competition that physically had a chance of stopping him. With that in mind, it’s also important to remember that he averaged those 40.6 points on 32.5 shot attempts per game. His true shooting mark during those first six seasons was only 52.6 percent, which would be below-average in today’s league.
From age 29 to 36, Chamberlain was more efficient but far less prolific. When you combine his overall (underwhelming) efficiency in an objectively weaker league, the lack of a free throw touch (career 51.1 percent), and playing in the era without a three-point line, he can’t be in the same realm as Durant in terms of all-around scoring attributes.
Then, you get into the crop of this current generation’s scorers — James, Bryant, Curry, and Harden.
There’s one way to describe Bryant’s scoring acumen and reputation around him: Kobe had the greatest and most impressive singular moments out of anyone in NBA history — at least to the modern fan. It was evident with the 81-point game, the four-game span where he scored 225 points in 2007, the 62 points in only three quarters vs. Dallas, and numerous barrages of scoring to seal a late-game comeback.
However, in between all of the esteemed moments, there would be a slew of inefficient nights and an extremely high number of field goal attempts. In NBA history, only three players have attempted 40-plus shots at least 10 times: Bryant (10), Rick Barry (11), and Wilt Chamberlain (104). Yes, you read that correctly for Chamberlain, which is another reason why he shouldn’t be a serious candidate for the “most talented” scorer.
Bryant finished with 1,064 more missed field goals than second all-time, but he’s only sixth in made field goals. He only shot above 50 percent from two-point range one time, and that was during his 17th season. It isn’t meant to tear down Bryant’s stature as one of the 10 greatest players to lace them up when factoring in accomplishments — because he probably is — but it’s just a piece of reality that leaves him a tier below Durant and James as a scorer.
James has everything working for him right now — the raw averages, a 16-year journey that continues to defy the laws of science with how healthy he’s been, and greater efficiency than Jordan himself.
But, LeBron isn’t a better or more versatile scorer than Durant. On a per-36 minute scale, KD scores at a higher rate with a difference of 2.5 percentage points in true shooting. Durant entered the league at age 19 as a better three-point sniper and free throw shooter than LeBron, and that gap has remained the same throughout the years.
The debate between KD and LeBron, in the long-term view, will be definitively answered when Durant reaches the “old man” stage of his career, where LeBron is currently heading. If no tangible regression comes his way and 35-year-old KD has similar numbers to 30-year-old KD, it’s a wrap.
For the most fascinating rival to Durant’s title as the G.O.A.T scorer, James Harden enters the fray.
The full career comparisons are tricky with Harden considering he spent the first three seasons coming off the bench in Oklahoma City. He played just 26.7 minutes, on average, for his first 220 games. When he was traded to the Houston Rockets, that’s when he unleashed all hell in the scoring department.
Thus, let’s make it more of an apples-to-apples comparison by excluding the OKC version of Harden. Just using his production with the Rockets, it’s Harden that leads this modern class in points per field goal attempt:
We know why, of course. Harden’s ability — it is a skill! — to get to the free throw line more often than any superstar has vastly elevated his scoring numbers since joining the analytically-driven Rockets. He has generated roughly 30.5 percent of his 15,178 points from the free throw line. Meanwhile, only 25 percent of Durant’s points are from free throws; 22 percent for LeBron, 15.7 percent for Curry, and 25 percent for Bryant.
Creating easier opportunities should be the primary objective of the game. Free throws increase a player’s overall efficiency. In that sense, Harden’s last seven seasons have given him a case for the most statistically impressive scoring stretch we’ve ever seen.
Digging deeper, though, what’s clear is Durant being a completely different animal. There isn’t an area of basketball, at least with the ball in his hands, that he doesn’t excel within. His dexterity from close range, beyond the arc, foul drawing, converting at the line, and being comfortable with a large offensive burden or reduced role are all components of his grandeur.
Looking at his career versus Harden’s run with Houston shows how remarkably close they are in scoring and ultimate efficiency (true shooting). But it also reveals what separates Durant in a major way:
Despite Harden taking 2.6 more free throws and 3.5 more threes per game — shots that boost the true shooting metric — Durant’s 61.2 percent is still slightly better. That’s because he’s more than 10 percentage points better at the rim, eight percentage points better in between the restricted area and free throw line (floater range), and five percentage points better in the mid-range.
Harden’s destruction this season is actually closing the gap a bit, though. He has increased his scoring load from last year by 6.3 points per game, upped his usage from 36.1 percent to 40.4, and his true shooting hasn’t budged at all. It’s almost like he’s spitting in the face of math and the idea that a player can’t stay efficient when they take on a heavier burden.
You won’t get an argument here that suggests Harden can’t score as easily as Durant. Heck, it’s probably easier for him considering the freebies he creates. But, the primary difference makers are height and unpredictability. Durant towers over defenders and has a wider range of areas that he can scorch you from. Because of that, he can roll out of bed every morning with 28 points. And if Durant was ever in a system that allowed him to take more than 21 shots a night or post a higher usage than 33 percent, I’m betting we would see similar scoring numbers to Harden this season.
The one criticism of Durant today, at least in terms of his shot selection, is that he still takes too many long twos. As great of a shooter as he is, the scoring volume would be even more fruitful if he changed a handful of those into perimeter bombs.
Just look at Curry, who has propelled himself into the “greatest scorer” conversation over the last five seasons because of the havoc he brings from outside. Since the first championship season (2014–15), Curry has produced 26.7 points per game on a smooth 55 percent from two, 43.4 percent on threes, and 91.1 percent at the line. His true shooting mark over those 341 regular season games? Something that doesn’t seem real: 65 percent.
Where Durant distances himself from these prolific scoring guards (including Jordan) is the realization that he can produce a shot from anywhere on the court.
He isn’t limited to the mid-range. He didn’t enter the league as a raw college talent that could only drive to the rim.
Andre Iguodala, who developed an elite defensive reputation in his late prime, played against Durant in 24 total games before they became teammates in Golden State.
Someone that has countless hours of experience guarding James, Bryant, Harden, and other top-tier isolation stars is clearly able to see why Durant is a different machine.
“Because I see him every day, I try to find his weaknesses,” Iguodala said. “I see how no one else has a chance at guarding him when he gets to where he wants to go. Any time. He really doesn’t have a weakness offensively.”
The lack of a defect in Durant’s scoring repertoire has allowed him to compile historic individual seasons. These next three charts illustrate the players that lead NBA history with total seasons fitting certain criteria. Let’s start with 27 percent Usage (high-volume) and 60 percent true shooting (high-efficiency):
Durant would actually have nine seasons here if he didn’t suffer a broken foot during the 2014–15 run in Oklahoma City. He played only 27 games that season before being sidelined, but his numbers were ridiculously impressive considering he was nursing an injury. He was above 63 percent true shooting even though the raw scoring was down from the prior (MVP) year.
This is where we’re introduced to Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance, as he tallied 10 full seasons with at least a 55 percent effective field goal percentage on 27 percent usage. If you include seasons where he missed too many games due to injury, that increases to 14.
If Shaq was just a better free throw shooter, he would automatically be up for consideration. He had the same unstoppable nature as Durant, LeBron, and Jordan … until you fouled him.
Adrian Dantley is someone that feels like an outlier, but he deserves to be praised more often for how dominant his prime was, at least statistically. From age 20 to 29 (his first 10 seasons), he averaged 26.5 points on 62.3 percent true shooting — a tick above Durant.
Dantley was actually a touch of Harden way before Harden came along. As a 6'5" small forward, he was generating 9.3 free throws per game during those first 10 seasons, while hitting over 81 percent of them. He was the efficiency poster child of the ’70s and ’80s. However, he didn’t exactly age well after he turned 30 and never expanded his range into three-point territory.
Why isn’t Abdul-Jabbar or Chamberlain included on the charts? Well, the NBA didn’t start computing a player’s usage rating until the 1977–78 season — well after Abdul-Jabbar’s dominant years in Milwaukee and after Chamberlain was already retired.
Once Magic Johnson was drafted, Abdul-Jabbar never experienced a very high usage during the Showtime era. He was, however, over 60 percent true shooting every season from 1978 to 1986. Because Chamberlain was never that efficient, it wouldn’t matter if usage had been tracked. He only cracked 60 percent true shooting three times in his 14-year career.
By every statistical measure, along with his combination of physical advantages and guard playstyle, Durant’s status as the deadliest regular season scorer in history has credence.
What about the Playoffs?
It’s the most common rebuttal to any scoring achievement or stretch of great performances from October to March: Do it in the playoffs. Do it when it truly matters. Score against the toughest competition.
Now 127 games into his playoff career, Durant has.
In fact, he’s currently fifth in career points per game throughout the postseason, yet he’s scored more efficiently than all four names above him.
There’s only one player in the top 10 of playoff scoring average that sits above Durant in true shooting: Stephen Curry, who routinely gets treated as if he performs poorly from April to June.
The long-range shooting certainly slips for Durant in the postseason, but he has still been a more effective distance shooter than James, Jordan, and Bryant. Out of every playoff scorer with at least 25 points per game, Durant’s three-point percentage is higher than everyone except Curry and Dirk Nowitzki.
When Durant jumped from Oklahoma City to Golden State, it would’ve been easy for him to hang back in the playoffs, let Curry do most of the damage, and slide into more of a spot-up role. That’s not what he primarily does, though. He’s always been an assassin with the ball in his hands with the game on the line.
The last two championships were clinched with Durant pulling up in transition and demonstrating why there’s no answer for him. When the notion that “Giannis Antetokounmpo will become unstoppable and destroy the league once he gets a jumpshot” is mentioned, somehow those people have forgotten a player like that exists. In a slimmer frame, it’s always been Durant.
In his 36 playoff games since joining the Warriors, he has averaged 28.8 points on 57.6–38–90 shooting splits. He has converted 73 percent of his attempts within three feet of the rim and nailed 56.2 percent of his mid-rangers beyond 16 feet. Over the course of two playoff runs, that is unheard of.
Before Durant arrived in Oakland, however, Steve Kerr’s Warriors got a taste of what it was like to defend him on the biggest stage. In the 2016 West Finals, with Iguodala and Draymond Green taking turns against him, Durant had the 73–9 Warriors on the brink of elimination. He didn’t exactly have a signature KD series in terms of efficiency, but there were moments where even the most versatile defensive team in the league seemed helpless against him.
Iguodala was tasked with guarding most of Durant’s isolations and mid-post possessions during that series. He recalls what makes him so devastating to go against. Specifically, why it’s difficult to execute Iguodala’s famous strip-steal, a technique that usually brings him success versus James and other superstars.
“You just study guys’ shot pockets,” Iguodala said. “But the thing with (Durant) that makes it tough is that he has that swipe-through, but also he can shoot from both sides. He can shoot from the right pocket and shoot from the left pocket. And his left pocket is natural. But he can get to the other pocket just as easy. That’s what makes it different for him.”
When KD moved to the Bay, a couple of things happened. The initial impact was the removal of a threat in the West, as OKC was immediately weakened from a title contender to a mediocre seven seed the following year.
Then, it finally sunk in. On top of having two of the greatest shooters that can enter flamethrower mode at any point, Golden State could now feature the single-most unguardable force — of any era.
When a player that puts fear or nervousness into the opposition joins your team, it replaces the headaches with smiles.
“You can enjoy it more,” Iguodala said. “You have an appreciation for him because that’s your opponent when you’re going against him, but it’s more of an appreciation when he’s your teammate because you can enjoy it.”
In the most recent West Finals versus Houston, Durant was a wildly polarizing figure. Due to the Rockets’ switch-heavy scheme, their defense naturally forced the Warriors out of their favorite offensive style. The beautiful motion and passing were down, which led to some frustration from fans whenever Golden State lost Games 4 and 5 and trailed in the series.
Nevertheless, even if he was looking to isolate more, Durant still came through in a monumental way. Throughout the series, Houston would willingly switch a center onto him after a ball screen. Usually, it was Clint Capela.
Durant showed why even the largest and most agile bigs can’t affect his pull-up jumper, or stay with him on drives:
That’s just the art of the crossover, footspeed, and wide array of shots he can produce off the dribble. There has never been a seven-footer that resembles a guard as much as him.
The implacable feeling of trying to guard Durant and disrupt his mid-range pull-up has to be taxing for all defenders. When he’s working against someone that isn’t nearly as tall, you can sense their helplessness when he rises up for the release.
Critical playoff moments, like the final two rounds of 2018, are when you can really see the frustration from the opposition. Durant was knocking down shots that reminded you of Bryant’s prime, except there was virtually no way to affect his vision and accuracy:
Durant’s playoff résumé is, for the most part, underrated. Every year from 2010 to 2016 that he and Westbrook were both healthy, Oklahoma City was in the West Finals. Now as a member of the Warriors, he has individually outplayed James in the last two Finals — it can be hard to weigh how much value his individual efforts matter because of the loaded talent around him, but to completely disregard or discredit Durant’s performances against James since 2017 would be illogical.
In their 14 head-to-head matchups in the postseason, Durant’s scoring is right there with LeBron while being more efficient across the board. Regardless if he has three future Hall-of-Fame teammates, tough isolation possessions still exist in the Finals. He has proven to thrive in those situations over the last two years.
A quietly superb season
On top of the 27.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists Durant is averaging — something only accomplished by nine other players in history with lower efficiency than Durant — he is on the verge of completing one of the most impeccable mid-range shooting seasons the league has seen.
Out of the 395 mid-range shots Durant has attempted, he’s nailed 52.9 percent. So far this season, 24 players have taken at least 200 mid-rangers. Durant leads the league in percentage on those shots, slightly greater than C.J. McCollum’s 50 percent mid-range shooting. But, consider the difference in their efficiency near the basket. Durant is finishing 74.3 percent of his looks in the restricted area this year, compared to McCollum’s 54.9 percent.
So, it’s a no-win situation for the defense. He’s money from 15-feet extended and nearly automatic when he’s driving inside. There are only two players this season currently shooting at least 70 percent at the rim, 50 percent on mid-rangers, and 35 percent on above-the-break threes: Durant and Al Horford. One of them on much higher volume than the other.
Teammates rarely understand how he makes a lot of his contested pull-ups. Alfonzo McKinnie, a second-year player that signed with Golden State last summer, admitted he was in disbelief after his first couple practices.
“When I first got here, I used to watch him and be like, ‘man this guy hits some crazy shots,” McKinnie said. “But then I watch him work out and I see the work he puts in, and to the outside world it’s crazy shots, but to me, I’m seeing it every day and that’s what he works on.”
This is the biggest reason why a cloud of inevitability hangs over the league and 29 other teams. The Warriors’ screen-based motion is expected. Their efforts to get Curry and Thompson open threes off split-cut action and misdirection are all staples of what made them champions in 2015.
But when a defense dials in on everything Kerr loves to do, having someone on your team you can inbound it to and say “here, create something” is a supreme luxury. Think about if we just threw 1993 Michael Jordan on the Warriors with the Splash Brother and Draymond Green. Because that’s exactly what it is. They already had a well-oiled engine when Kerr arrived. Now, chilling on the perimeter if they need it, is a player whose shot can’t be affected.
Almost three years into the KD experience, teammates have been able to get a closer look at what makes him unique, as well as a joy to be around.
“He just enjoys basketball,” Iguodala said. “So you look at him and you’re like ‘man, that dude really loves the game.’ You watch him work out and it’s just incredible. It’s almost not good (being teammates), because you see how it’s like so effortless and so good, it’s like alright, no one else stands a chance so why even try? But you just get an appreciation for how someone enjoys the game and tries to take full advantage of their time within it.”
These final three months could be the last chapter in Durant’s Bay Area career. As he gears up for the opportunity to three-peat and capture his third Finals MVP, nobody knows what his intentions will be during the summer. At this point, he probably doesn’t know.
Whether he’s scoring the very first bucket at the new Chase Center or standing in front of the Madison Square Garden crowd that has been grief-stricken for decades, he will carry his reputation with him.
To some fans, he’s a snake. To others, he’s a cupcake.
Those are fine, as long as folks acknowledge we’ve never seen a better scorer throughout this game’s prestigious history.
*All quotes were obtained firsthand*
Shane Young is a freelance NBA columnist. He is still searching for full-time NBA writing opportunities in any capacity — beat-writing, feature columns, etc. He specializes in analyzing basketball X’s and O’s and advanced metrics, while having five years of experience covering games/practices in multiple NBA cities. If interested, reach out via email at: ShaneYoungNBA@gmail.com
