What makes Kevin Durant clearly better than James Harden?

[PeroAntic]

Can play off ball, has post moves and midrange game. plus defense. Harden is the opposite of a team player.

[Run DLC]

KD bust bron's ass two years in a row in the finals.

That’s why KD is the GOAT. He singlehandedly destroyed LeBron’s legacy. Warriors were a lottery team until KD joined them.

[Phoenix]

That’s why KD is the GOAT. He singlehandedly destroyed LeBron’s legacy. Warriors were a lottery team until KD joined them.

They were a 73 win team and bad 4th quarter away from winning back to backs before KD joined. Then in 2019 they get to the finals even though KD was injured. What the hell are you talking about?!

To the topic, I don't think KD is 'dramatically' better as far as overall impact but the ways in which he is better are obvious. More portable skillset, great as both an iso and off ball scorer, better defender, better in-between game. Harden is obviously a better ball handler, passer and creator in terms of team offense. In general if you remove KDs years with the Warriors he hasn't really been more successful than Harden, which is where it gets fuzzy.

[ArbitraryWater]

They both perennially lost to the best team in OKC / HOU respectively, until KD joined champions. And even then Harden was about to best him pre-Paul injury.


So yeah, not much.

[NBAGOAT]

kd's no bird or anything but plays the off ball role a lot better, it matters on high level teams teams where multiple guys usually need touches. harden's an elite floor raiser but has only been on a couple title level teams that were not only talented but built around his ball dominance pretty well. he and westbrook played well individually this year but didnt compliment each other well based on stuff like netrtg(eye test wasnt the best either). kd/westbrook/some other good contributors but no stars were legitimate title contenders though 16 westbrook is better than current westbrook

[AussieSteve]

I personally think KD is over rated. He is the purest of pure scorers, but nothing about the rest of his game is exceptional. I have him just outside the top 20 all time.

Harden is hard to assess because he dominates the ball so much and his stats are insane. But realistically he's on a similar level to KD.

People weight rings and deep playoff runs so heavily when ranking players that superteams make it tough to compare players. How do we compare the achievements of KD, who created a super team to win 2 rings, with Harden who never had the same level of support. Or someone from the past like Barkley, who was the sole star on his team for most of his prime and then lost to the Jordan-Pippen Bulls once he finally had a squad? It's why I hate rings being so heavily weighted in player comparisons. Circumstances, injuries, team mates, competition, luck etc can all be the difference between a chip and no chip. If Paxon's shot missed in 93, Barkley might have a chip. Would he be all of a sudden better in that scenario? He would certainly be ranked higher by most people. Would Jordan be worse if he was 5/6 rather than 6/6? Seems arbitrary to me.

I say KD > Harden because my eyes tell me he's better. But its close.

[ThatCoolKid]

Harden is a lazy off ball player after playing in D'antoni's system for years. But I think in a different environment he could play off ball. It's just not something he seems to care about unfortunately. Harden defensively is good as long as he's putting in the effort. KD is a pretty overrated defender, people act like he was anchoring the Warriors defense. KD ain't Giannis I'll tell you that much.

KD does have an all time level post game that Harden does not, but Harden is also a better playmaker than KD.

Overall, I don't think there is that big a gap between Harden and KD tbh. KD has just come up big in the biggest moments whereas Harden has come up just short a few times. KD absolutely has gotten more respect after winning with the Warriors, contrary to what most people on this forum thinks. The public forgets context very quickly, if they ever knew it to begin with. That reputation boost from playing with the Warriors is why most would rank KD over Harden, but it is closer than you would think. Guys like Bill Simons say Harden is just not that good a player in the playoffs, but the only season he really missed his oppurtunity was 2019 where KD was injured - but even then he averaged 34.8 7.0 5.5 2.2 on 59 TS %. CP3 was also disappointing in that series. Harden has the talent he just hasn't had his moment yet.

[Kiddlovesnets]

Harden has a scoring title, Durant has 4. Harden has a MVP season, Durant has it too. Durant has 2 FMVPs and 2 seasons as the best player in the league(2017/2018 and 2018/2019), Harden has none.

[LoneyROY7]

Harden has a scoring title, Durant has 4. Harden has a MVP season, Durant has it too. Durant has 2 FMVPs and 2 seasons as the best player in the league(2017/2018 and 2018/2019), Harden has none.

Harden has 3 scoring titles.

[Kiddlovesnets]

Harden has 3 scoring titles.

Okay, but still less than KD's. And when it comes to FMVP, you see the difference.

[Phoenix]

Okay, but still less than KD's. And when it comes to FMVP, you see the difference.

One guy played for the Warriors and the other didn't, that was the difference. KDs team success outside of those Warrriors years isn't better than Harden's.

[SouBeachTalents]

One guy played for the Warriors and the other didn't, that was the difference. KDs team success outside of those Warrriors years isn't better than Harden's.

That guy is literally incapable of using context, same retard who says one Finals loss drops you out of being GOAT

[light]

As the title says, what makes Kevin Durant clearly better than James Harden like many people say?

Just looking into playoff statistics when KD and Harden had same level of supporting casts on OKC & Houston Rockets respectively while being undisupted most valuable/impactful player, Harden actually has an edge on KD. Simply due to playmaking skills & having slightly better TS% despite KD's scoring were heavily assisted. On defense, Harden is ahead of KD in that department (although none of them are great at it).


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Kevin Durant at Oklahoma City Thunder (2009-2016)

Playoffs

- 28.9 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.7 APG
- 45.5 FG%, 32.9 3P%, 84.8 FT% on 57.5 TS% (46.2% of 2Ps & 73.9% of 3Ps assisted)
- 0.177 WS/48
- 6.3 BPM
- 0 Rings
- 0 Finals MVPs


James Harden at Houston Rockets (2012-2020)

Playoffs

- 28.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 7.1 APG
- 42.1 FG%, 32.4 3P%, 87.1 FT% on 57.8 TS% (15.0% of 2Ps & 30.8% of 3Ps assisted)
- 0.173 WS/48
- 7.6 BPM
- 0 Rings
- 0 Finals MVPs

Winning.

[dankok8]

Harden on the Rockets and KD on the Thunder had pretty similar team success. In fact Harden probably got closer to winning a title in 2018 when he took the Warriors to 7. KD is better in the post and a more athletic finisher at the rim but Harden is a much better playmaker. Both put up crazy stats.

So yea Durant isn't clearly better. However he is higher on the GOAT list. Rings on a superteam are still rings and elevate his legacy.

[Bronbron23]

Not much, if anything...especially after we saw what Harden did in the 2018 season when Harden led the Rockets to a better record and likely would have beaten an all-time loaded Warriors team if Paul doesn't get hurt.

Better scorer, defender and winner. You have to be kidding.

And houston almost beating warriors had more to do with cp than harden.