There may never be another scorer quite like Kevin Durant. At nearly seven feet tall with the handle of a guard, an elite jump shot, and the ability to score from virtually anywhere on the court, Durant has spent his career presenting defenses with a problem that sometimes simply doesn’t have an answer.
What makes KD special isn’t just how much he scores, but how easily he makes scoring look. He can pull up from three, attack off the dribble, rise over defenders from midrange, finish at the rim, and get to the free-throw line. Smaller defenders don’t have the size to contest him, while bigger defenders usually don’t have the speed to stay in front of him. At his best, defending Durant often comes down to hoping he misses.
The résumé backs up the talent. Durant is a four-time NBA scoring champion, a league MVP, a 15-time All-Star, and one of the highest-scoring players in NBA history. He also joined the exclusive 50-40-90 club twice, an incredible accomplishment for someone carrying the scoring volume and defensive attention that Durant has throughout his career.
Then there are the championships. Durant won back-to-back NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and he wasn’t simply along for the ride. He won Finals MVP in both championship runs. On teams filled with Hall of Fame-level talent, Durant still managed to separate himself on basketball’s biggest stage.
His 2017 NBA Finals showed exactly how unstoppable he could be. Durant averaged 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game while shooting an absurd 55.6% from the field and 47.4% from three. Against a Cleveland team featuring LeBron James and coming off a championship, Durant delivered one of the most efficient high-volume scoring performances we have ever seen in the Finals.
Some will always hold Durant’s decision to join Golden State against him when discussing his legacy, and that’s fair to debate. But where he chose to play shouldn’t cause us to forget what he actually did once he got there. Durant took an already historically great Warriors team and made them virtually unbeatable, helping create what I believe was the greatest team in NBA history. Golden State went 16–1 in the 2017 playoffs, and Durant was at the center of it, winning back-to-back championships and two Finals MVPs. You can criticize how the team came together, but you can’t deny how dominant Durant made them once he arrived.
Durant’s longevity deserves recognition as well. From becoming one of the league’s youngest scoring champions to remaining an elite scorer deep into his career, he has maintained a level of offensive excellence that very few players have ever reached. Even a devastating Achilles injury couldn’t take away his ability to score at an extraordinary level.
He was also selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, cementing his place among the game’s historical greats before his career was even finished.
When it’s all said and done, Kevin Durant has a legitimate argument as the most naturally gifted scorer basketball has ever seen. The combination of his size, shooting, handle, efficiency, and longevity is something the sport had simply never seen before him.
That’s why Kevin Durant is my third-greatest small forward in NBA history.
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