Kevin Durant Questions Why Isn’t He A Part Of The GOAT Debate?
Kevin Durant’s NBA career is legendary. In addition to becoming a two-time NBA champion, he has won MVP awards and three gold medals at the Olympics. He has also won scoring championships four times. He will undoubtedly go down as one of the finest players of his generation and be inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
Kevin Durant Questions Why Isn’t He A Part Of GOAT Debate?
However, Durant believes he has earned an even larger legacy, similar to other great players. When Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic questioned Durant about why he isn’t more extensively involved in the argument about the greatest game of all time, he revealed that there is just one thing that is keeping him out of it.
A decade ago, Michael Jordan found it difficult to respond to the most popular NBA topic of the day: LeBron James or Kobe Bryant?
Kevin Durant tonight:
40 Points
8 Rebounds
3 Blocks
2 Assists
72% FG
57% 3P pic.twitter.com/3QT5JGEuNb— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 22, 2024
After a pause or two, Jordan blurted out, “Kevin Durant,” and chuckled a little bit.
This occurred before to Durant winning an NBA MVP award or a championship, but after Jordan selected Bryant, who at the time had a 5-1 advantage over James in championships. He was asked about Durant by Ahmad Rashad.
Durant made one of the most contentious free-agent decisions in history when he decided to join the Warriors in 2016. In addition to winning an NBA record 73 regular-season games in 2016, the Warriors had previously won a championship in 2015. Many people assumed that Durant would win both of his titles when he signed with the Warriors.
Kevin Durant is the 14th player in NBA history to score 40+ points without attempting a FT. pic.twitter.com/xT8x6zxSu7
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) January 22, 2024
“Because I went to the Warriors,” Durant told Rankin. “Why shouldn’t I be in that? That’s the question you should ask. Why not? What haven’t I done?”
Tenth on the NBA’s all-time scoring record despite having played in less games than the nine players ahead of him, Durant is perhaps the purest scorer in history since he is practically a 7-footer who can score on all three levels and play above the rim.
This season, he’s expected to surpass both Shaquille O’Neal and Carmelo Anthony. Although Durant has played in 187 fewer games than O’Neal and 240 less than Anthony, he is just 723 points behind O’Neal for ninth place and 416 points behind Anthony.
Kevin Durant says after the loss to the Clippers on January 8th, everyone in the locker room made a commitment to just play harder on the defensive end. Says it’s been a major point of emphasis in the last couple weeks. pic.twitter.com/mqrQ4xr3l6
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) January 22, 2024
In his 17th NBA season, Durant averaged 28.9 points per game, which allowed him to overtake O’Neal and Anthony in about 26 games.
However, he lacks the comprehensive résumé of athletes such as James and Jordan, and that’s just OK. Being, let’s say, the 14th greatest player of all time is no little matter.
Even yet, no rival with Durant’s level of accomplishment is going to settle for anything less than the top spot.
Kevin Durant is confused why he’s not in the GOAT conversation
“Because I went to the Warriors. Why shouldn’t I be in that? That’s the question you should ask. Why not? What haven’t I done?”
(Via https://t.co/pHyvTDJMqA) pic.twitter.com/wQHsweFgHZ
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 21, 2024
He will ultimately retire as one of the all-time great basketball players. Saying that other folks were somewhat better doesn’t take away from his accomplishments in the slightest.
Even if it’s not really fair for someone who has two rings, two NBA Finals MVPs, a league MVP, a Rookie of the Year, four scoring crowns, ten All-NBA picks, and thirteen All-Star nods, it’s a fact that some fans will probably never ignore while debating GOAT arguments.
Yet the debate remains: Jordan vs. LeBron.
Fading. Falling. Buckets.
Kevin Durant. pic.twitter.com/TljR48CMPq
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) January 22, 2024
What records does Kevin Durant hold?
Only nine players in NBA history have amassed at least 22,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, and 900 blocks, including Durant. The Phoenix Suns acquired Durant on the February 2023 trade deadline.
What is the KD percentage?
The keyword difficulty (KD%) statistic calculates the amount of search engine optimization (SEO) work required to get your content to naturally appear in the top 10 Google results for a given phrase.
"My purpose of being a human being is to be the greatest basketball player I can be"
Ball really is life for Kevin Durant 🙌 pic.twitter.com/IFMcXmvlSZ
— NBA (@NBA) January 17, 2024
Did Curry win without KD?
Without Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry has won two titles in his career.
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