Bill Simmons is on a mission to establish that Kevin Durant is a top-10 basketball player of all time. The Ringer expert explained why on his pod.
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If you got aliens to watch every piece of NBA footage ever made, there’s a strong likelihood that they’d arrive at the same conclusion as the former ESPN/Grantland stalwart.
Kevin Durant won his first scoring title in his 3rd NBA season. He followed that up with 3 more in 4 years (he’d have had a 5th but for a peculiar NBA rule). He’s still leading the scoring charts for the league in his age-33 season, tallying 29.3 points per game.
There has never been a player to walk this planet earth who can guard the 6’11” 2-guard. KD plays exactly like an old-school shooting guard, except he’s 7-8 inches taller than players at that position.
The way KD moves on a basketball court as a near 7-footer is totally different from every other player at that height whom we’ve ever seen. Giannis is the same height as KD, and obviously bulkier, but he was of a similar physical profile. But its basically impossible for the Greek Freak to ever develop hesitation dribbles anywhere close to KD’s level.
Bill Simmons says Kevin Durant is a top-10 player of all time, has had bad luck
However, since we’re on planet Earth, as basketball fans, there are certain memories we just can’t delete. Among those memories is watching KD wilt in 3 straight knockout games before joining the team that beat him.
It was declared at the time – and still is regarded – as the weakest move by an NBA superstar ever. Many people instantly disqualified KD from their own GOAT lists for violating the golden playground rule – no superteams.
But Bill Simmons thinks otherwise. A Celtics fan through and through, Simmons is wont to let his heart rule over his head when it comes to basketball takes. However, he’s right on the money while talking about KD’s legacy on his latest podcast episode:
“I think KD is one of the 10 best all-time by any calculation. The only luck he had was that the Warriors had cap space, but the smartest move for him was what everyone got mad about. I just wonder when he’s going to get a break.”
Bill Simmons is less petty when it comes to KD’s move than practically every other basketball fan on the planet. But he’s also 100% correct on this occasion.