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Kevin Durant is in line to be one of the top 5 greatest players of all time. He definitely has the talent to do it, on top of being a physical specimen the likes of which has never been seen before in the NBA. He's essentially a 7-foot tall player with guard-like skills and limitless range who can score on you in just about any manner you can envision - ankle-breaking crossovers, transition dunks, 30-foot 3-pointers, posting up, fading away - these are all bread and butter shots.
One could make the argument with a straight face and no malice intended that Durant is indeed the least-appreciated players of this era. Much of that has to do with the decision he took in the summer of 2016 to join the Golden State Warriors as a free agent, obviously - a decision that has forever scarred his legacy in the eyes of some people.
Those people, though, aren't fit to lace the boots of someone who's averaged north of 30 points per game over the last two NBA Finals, and is better on both ends of the floor than he's ever been in his career. Indeed, his raw stats look as much like statlines belonging to LeBron James as anyone else in basketball history, and King James has been thought to be a worthy successor to His Airness as maybe the greatest player in basketball.
Durant is still under 30 years old - smack in the middle of his athletic prime. There's only so much haters can put him down for once he's got more championships than LeBron - a possibility that looks all too likely given the kind of form he's in now. The following are 5 records he's set that make him one tough act to follow:
#1 Only player to score 25 or more points in 41 straight games this century
When Russell Westbrook went down with a torn meniscus in the middle of the 2013-14 regular season, the burden of carrying the team to the playoffs fell to KD. While Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb were good NBA players at the time, the Western Conference playoff picture was a really tough fight to get through.
It was Durant's scoring that pushed the Thunder to a 59-23 record and the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs. He won the MVP trophy ahead of LeBron for his best statistical season that year, and notching 25 points or more in 41 straight games was a big part of the reason why.
KD's averages of 32 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game on 50.3% shooting from the field, 39.1% shooting from downtown on 6.1 attempts per game and 87.3% free throw shooting while playing stellar defense made it amply clear that he was still the Thunder's best and most important player despite Westbrook's emergence as a superstar, and this notion was only driven further when they failed to make the playoffs the next season with him ruled out by injury.
#2 Youngest player to win the scoring title
Kevin Durant came into the league with the expectations of being a dominant scorer, and that's exactly what he's been right off the bat. Alongside LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, KD is the only other teenager to average 20+ points per game as a teenager, and he did so while averaging fewer minutes per game than these other two small forwards.
His 2009-10 season vaulted him from All-Star status to superstardom, as he finished second in MVP voting behind LeBron while winning his first scoring title. At the age of 21 years and 197 days, he is the youngest player to ever bag the trophy, with an average of 30.4 points per game.
He did so while averaging 47.6% shooting from the field, and his influence in all areas of the game allowed the Thunder to vault from 23 wins in 2008-09 to 50 wins and the 8th seed in the Western Conference playoff picture in 2009-10, back when the likes of Harden and Westbrook were still finding their feet in the league.
#3 Youngest member of the 50-40-90 club
Durant had already won 3 scoring titles by the end of the 2012-13 season, and he could've had a fourth if the award was meant to be given to the player with the greatest points total over the course of the season - he outscored Carmelo Anthony, but Melo won his only scoring title that year.
Nevertheless, Durant's shot selection was vastly improved as he broke the 50% field goal percentage barrier for the first time in his career. What's impressive is that at the same time, he also set then-career highs in 3-point percentage (41.6%) and free throw percentage (90.5%) and became the sixth and youngest member of the elite 50-40-90 club.
He did so on what was the second-highest scoring average of all players on that list as well - 28.1 points per game.
#4 Second-longest playoff series streak with 25+ points scoring average
Kevin Durant is no slouch when it comes to scoring in the playoffs either. He currently averages 28.8 points per game over the course of 127 playoff games, and his game and frame is well-suited to keep this average up even late into his 30s, purely because he isn't overly reliant on his athleticism or speed to get those points.
He's the greatest mid-range scorer in the history of the game behind Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, shooting over 50% in the playoffs in the 10-24 foot range over the past 6 seasons.
In 24 playoff series played thus far, Durant has averaged below 25 points per game only twice, and those were in 2016-17 when he wasn't necessarily a primary scorer since he was coming off foot injuries. He still averaged over 20 points per game in those series as well, and his streak of playoff series with a 25 ppg average is 16 series long - next only to Michael Jordan who has an outrageous streak of 37 straight series to his credit.
#5 The only player to record a 32/10/12/4/4 statline
KD's MVP season saw him put up an assortment of crazily underrated performances. None of those performances, however, match the kind of influence he exerted on both sides of the court on the 1st of December, 2013 against a Minnesota Timberwolves that was on the rise.
The Thunder trailed for the entirety of the first half, and were down 5 points to start the 4th. But KD's nonstop offensive onslaught while wreaking havoc on the defensive end eventually proved to be too much for a Wolves team that was clearly on the come-up that season, but had a fair amount of work to do to become a playoff team as it was constructed back then.
OKC came away with a 113-103 win that night, and Durant was almost single-handedly responsible for their come-from-behind victory. He compiled his 32 points off just 21 shots, making 3 out of his 4 3-point attempts. This is the closest he's ever come to netting a 5x5 in the bag.
