An interesting statistic shows that despite winning 3 consecutive scoring titles, Kevin Durant didn’t have the highest ball usage rate on his team.
Advertisement
Durant is one of the most efficient scorers in the history of the NBA. The former league MVP is known to have one of the best mid-range games. Durant is one of the most skilled players for height and size.
The 2x NBA champion is a career 49.4% shooter from the field and an impressive 88.3% shooter from the free-throw line. Durant currently ranks 9th on the all-time scoring leader (playoffs).
Recently the 2x Finals MVP achieved one of the biggest feats in Team USA basketball history. KD surpassed Carmelo Anthony as the all-time Olympic scoring leader. Durant has a total of 336 points in his 3 Olympic appearances playing 19 games.
Kevin Durant is now the leading men’s scorer in U.S. Olympic basketball history, and the U.S. is headed to the quarterfinals.
Here’s what happened at the #TokyoOlympics overnight: https://t.co/JLIG1RtQIn
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) July 31, 2021
KD has won 4 scoring titles during his stint in Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that drafted him. However, despite being the scoring champion, Durant didn’t have the highest usage rate on his own team.
Kevin Durant: A 4x scoring champion
The former rookie of the year led the league in scoring for 3 consecutive seasons. In the 2010-11 season, Durant had a 30.6% usage rate as he averaged 27.7 PPG on a 58.9% TS.
On the other hand, KD’s OKC teammate during the time, Russell Westbrook had a 31.6% usage rate, averaging 21.9 PPG on a 53.8% TS.
In the 2011-12 season as well, Durant led the league in scoring. The 11x All-Star had a usage rate of 31.3% and averaged 28 PPG on a 61% TS.
In this case, as well Westbrook led the team in ball usage, having a 32.7% usage rate as he averaged 23.6 PPG on a 53.8 TS.
Durant won his 3rd consecutive scoring title in the 2012-13 season. The superstar had a 33.0 usage rate and averaged 32.0 PPG on a 63.5% TS, while Westbrook had a 34.4% usage rate and averaged 21.8 PPG on a 54.5% TS.
KD was crowned the MVP during the 2013-14 season. The superstar also won his 4th consecutive scoring title the same season.
Earlier this year, Durant’s former Warriors coach Steve Kerr was quoted saying that KD was probably more gifted than even Michael Jordan. One cannot deny that the former OKC player is one of the most efficient and skilled players for his size.