After Larry Bird paved the way for NBA power forwards, Kevin Durant’s sustained brilliance raised the bar even higher. As a result, KD often gets the edge when debates ensue on the better of the two players. Jeff Teague offers a different perspective, refusing to give the 35-year-old a clear advantage over Larry Legend.
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Both his co-hosts on the Club 520 Podcast chose Durant over Bird in the debate, but Teague hesitated to side with them. Although the 1x All-Star acknowledged KD’s uniqueness, he reminded the crew of the Celtics icon’s greatness. Expressing his stance, the 36-year-old mentioned,
“The highest of KD, I think, was unbelievable. At one point, I thought he was better than Bron [LeBron James]… But Larry Bird is nice, bro”.
Shortly after, the rest of the panel softened their stance as well. DJ Wells described Bird as “cold” for his gameplay, while Bishop expanded on Teague’s viewpoint. He pointed to Bird’s greatness by discussing how the 3x MVP led the Celtics’ big three of himself, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale to three championships.
These remarks revealed both sides of the debate. Bird, for instance, remains a key figure in the league’s history. His rivalry with the Lakers’ Magic Johnson is often credited with financially rescuing the NBA in the early 1980s. Bird also revolutionized the power forward position with his exceptional scoring and leadership.
At the same time, Durant disrupted the NBA with his unique attributes. Standing at 6’11” with exceptional ball-handling skills, he can score at will. On top of this, his back-to-back championship wins in 2017 and 2018 cemented his place as one of the greatest of all time.
These factors make this debate extremely neck-and-neck, with their accolades reflecting the same. While Bird has one more championship and two more MVP awards than KD, the latter has two more All-Star selections and one more All-NBA nod. The pair also have 2 Finals MVPs each.
So, the crew’s difficulty in giving an edge to either player is understandable. In the future, fans might continue to face similar challenges while debating this duo. In the end, personal preference will probably play a significant role, as it did on this show.
