Where did you rank Kevin Durant at his highest and where do you have him now?

[Druckenmiller]

I’ve got him right up there with Bernard King.

[SouBeachTalents]

Yes he was, I remember that quite well after 2018. With Steph winning his 4th and Jokic winning his title last year tho he's arguably been passed by both, or at least people are already projecting Jokic ahead of him which is fair at the moment.

He absolutely wasn’t. If you could find me even 3 rankings that had KD top 10 I’d be astonished. And even if you did, I could find you 20 rankings that didn’t for every ranking that did.

Your best case scenario here is you’re arguing for an extremely fringe opinion. And claiming someone is potentially top 10 is NOT the same as them actually being ranked in the top 10, which is what Wright incorrectly claimed in the OP.

[ImKobe]

He absolutely wasn’t. If you could find me even 3 rankings that had KD top 10 I’d be astonished. And even if you did, I could find you 20 rankings that didn’t for every ranking that did.

Your best case scenario here is you’re arguing for an extremely fringe opinion. And claiming someone is potentially top 10 is NOT the same as them actually being ranked in the top 10, which is what Wright incorrectly claimed in the OP.

Argument was that "he was never considered top 10".. Some people definitely did try to make that argument when he won B2B and was on his way to a 3rd. Even ESPN had him 14th all-time at that point which wasn't far off and they were very much pro-Steph/Bron and anti-KD. Idk why you're acting like it's that big of a stretch that SOMEONE had him in their top 10 when he was coming off B2B dominant title runs with dominant series vs Lebron where he arguably outplayed him both times despite Bron's stat-padding in some of those blowout losses.

[SaltyMeatballs]

Highest I had him was around #12 or #13 since 2019. That's where I'd rank him today still

[SouBeachTalents]

Argument was that "he was never considered top 10".. Some people definitely did try to make that argument when he won B2B and was on his way to a 3rd. Even ESPN had him 14th all-time at that point which wasn't far off and they were very much pro-Steph/Bron and anti-KD. Idk why you're acting like it's that big of a stretch that SOMEONE had him in their top 10 when he was coming off B2B dominant title runs with dominant series vs Lebron where he arguably outplayed him both times despite Bron's stat-padding in some of those blowout losses.

Why are you arguing such weird semantics I'm sure one person in the world had KD top 10 at one time, my point was the VAST majority did not, which is what I was pushing back on with what the OP/Nick Wright was claiming.

[ImKobe]

Why are you arguing such weird semantics I'm sure one person in the world had KD top 10 at one time, my point was the VAST majority did not, which is what I was pushing back on with what the OP/Nick Wright was claiming.

Well you quoted me lol. The initial point was that some people said it which makes a whole lot of sense as he had B2B dominant title runs on the level of prime/peak Bird and Lebron. Top 10 wasn't a stretch at the time though most people (Lebron stans and the rest of the NBA) hated him because his team looked so dominant that they thought he'd win more and thus tried to invalidate him pre-emptively as it looked like he was about to get his 3rd in 2019 before the injury, he was on pace to have an even better title run in 2019 when he averaged 35/5/5 on 52/43/91 splits through his first 10 Playoff games.

[StrongLurk]

Rankings all depend on how much you value players before the 3 point line.

A lot of fans under 25 simply don't give a **** about anything before MJ, even shitting on Bird and Magic.

So in that context, Durant certainly is a top 10 player of all time if we are only looking at the past 30 years or so.

[L.Kizzle]

Wherever you have Steph at, he's right below. It can be one spot below, it can be 4 spots below. He's still beneath Curry.

[tpols]

He should've stayed with Golden State. Probably would've had 5 rings.

[tpols]

I was never as high on him as other people.

I just dont value one dimensional scorers THAT highly, no matter how talented. I mean I think they can have a lot of value, but I dont just look at scoring as the singular measure of a player’s impact the way a lot of fans do.

KD was never above average as a playmaker, rebounder, defender, leader, or really anything but a jump shooter.

And thats not to say hes not a great player who brought alot of value to his teams in his prime. His shot making is valuable. Im saying that compared to other fans I never saw him as really anything close to becoming “top 10 all time.” But I also didnt give a shit how many mvps or championships he was gonna win or whatever, which a lot of people assumed he would and that affects how they rank him. I rank people based on how I see them, not irrelevant criteria based on the players circumstance.

Its called abstract thinking. Considering a concept when you dont have concrete instructions and formulae. Deciding how to analyze it through a fluid cloud of factors, not just desperately searching for an “a + b = c” formula that society or some authority told you is how to do it.

But I think most peoples brains arent actually wired to do that. I always used to think it was a choice people made for some strange reason. But I actually think the opposite now.

He definitely was an above average defender and rebounder at some point. And knew how to make simple high IQ passes. Playing with Westbrick for most of his prime is tilting your view. We saw Lebron with Westbrook. It was a disaster.

[FultzNationRISE]

He definitely was an above average defender and rebounder at some point. And knew how to make simple high IQ passes. Playing with Westbrick for most of his prime is tilting your view. We saw Lebron with Westbrook. It was a disaster.

When?

Tell me when and explain what he did as a defender that made an impression.

There's 30 starting small forwards in the league. So you're either in the top, middle, or bottom third. The middle third is average.

Was he ever as good as guys like Lebron, Kawhi, Giannis? Butler, Tatum? Artest, Aaron Gordon, Nic Batum?

If those guys are all better than him then he's not "above average." Those guys are above average. If you wanna give him credit for being decent, and not terrible, that's fine but describe it accurately. He's in the middle third at best, and that's average.

[Norcaliblunt]

What sinks Durants ranking is his personality. Getting all butthurt over what the media or fans say killed his likability.

That and never playing with a true pass first point guard.

Durant should have found a way to go the clippers and team up with Chris Paul instead of Golden State. A prime KD and CP3 duo would have been a major problem for the league and both players would be regarded and ranked much higher.

I bet a KD for Blake Griffin sign and trade could have been made.

[ArbitraryWater]

Argument was that "he was never considered top 10".. Some people definitely did try to make that argument when he won B2B and was on his way to a 3rd. Even ESPN had him 14th all-time at that point which wasn't far off and they were very much pro-Steph/Bron and anti-KD. Idk why you're acting like it's that big of a stretch that SOMEONE had him in their top 10 when he was coming off B2B dominant title runs with dominant series vs Lebron where he arguably outplayed him both times despite Bron's stat-padding in some of those blowout losses.

14 is very far off.

I doubt you can find 1 list making that claim.

[j3lademaster]

He definitely was an above average defender and rebounder at some point. And knew how to make simple high IQ passes. Playing with Westbrick for most of his prime is tilting your view. We saw Lebron with Westbrook. It was a disaster.

If anything Westbrook has proven to be an underrated teammate. Durant got to play with a better version of Kyrie that Lebron won a ring with(and would have multiple if not for all time collusion) and couldn’t get out of the first round…in the east.

And are we seriously comparing Lakers Westbrook to Okc Westbrook? There’s kind of a big difference there, even bigger than the versions of Kyrie each played with.

[90sgoat]

He's in that very broad and difficult to rank group of guys like Dirk, Malone, Drexler, Wade, West and many others I forgot. Great players, great scorers, who just didn't have the elite specialized ability to make it to the absolute top. Basically the NBA from top 15 to top 30 is difficult to rank.