NBA legend on Kevin Durant: ‘Essentially the most expert and full scorer ever’

The NBA has seen a number of seven-footers who can shoot a excessive clip — Dirk Nowitzki, Lauri Markkanen and Karl Anthony Cities, to call just a few. However there’s by no means been one other Kevin Durant. 

The Suns star’s guard-like handles make him a three-level risk who can pull up from wherever on the ground together with his silky jumper. And together with his excessive launch level, solely a handful of defenders contest his shot on any given night time. Whereas Victor Wembanyama is the most recent “create-a-player” come to life, Durant is the unique cheat code that makes followers and analysts alike go, ‘A man that measurement is not supposed to try this.’

Many have acknowledged Durant as the most gifted scorer or offensive weapon in NBA historical past. Pistons legend Isiah Thomas has joined that rising record.

To Thomas’ level, Durant stands out as the most effective scorer in historical past. Among the many top-10 scorers in historical past, he has the very best true capturing proportion (62), above comparable scorers similar to LeBron James (59), Michael Jordan (56.9) and Kobe Bryant (55), and even bigs who dominated on the rim. To that finish, Durant’s profession 50.1 FG% pales compared to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (55.9), Wilt Chamberlain (54.0) and Shaquille O’Neal (58.2), however his efficient FG% trumps everybody as a consequence of his capacity to attain so effectively from the perimeter. 

Durant is off to a blazing begin within the 2024-25 season. With 5 30-plus nights by his first eight video games, he is led the Suns to a 7-1 report. The 36-year-old is recent off turning into the first player to win 4 Olympic gold medals in males’s basketball. He performed with numerous pleasure in Paris and it appears these optimistic vibes have carried into the brand new NBA season. 

“The Slip Repear” can be the healthiest he is been in years. Final season, he performed 75 video games, his most since 2018-19.