Kevin Durant will be forgotten in time, and be eclipsed by players playing right now...and this is not an unprecedented phenomenon

[RedBull]

KD is overrated and under appreciated at the same time, but that’s his doing only. He cannot be put on the same tier as Larry Bird and other greats because KD did not “earn” his championships the way the other all-time greats with SIMILAR numbers/accolades have. Leading your team to a championship hold a lot of weight in most people’s eyes. If we’re judging on pure basketball ability, not too many people can mess with KD. His placement in history is all about the criteria of which he’s judged. If I’m starting a team with a historic/current 12 man NBA roster, he’s on the team. But he won’t be the leader of any team I own.

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

So if you had a choice y’all are taking Bird over KD?

yes

 

[CP3.]

Putting Kevin Durant on the same tier of Hakeem Olajuwon is WILD

The only players in history can you can say is clearly better than Hakeem is Kareem and MJ. That's it

 

[CP3.]

So if you had a choice y’all are taking Bird over KD?

Yes and that's no disrespect on KD cause this thread is truly wild but Bird was different.

 

[UpAndComing]

Hakeem didn't need superteams to win his titles

 

[yseJ]

Even without championships, they aren’t comparable as players. It’s an insult to compare KD to T-Mac.

KD is the 2nd greatest SF ever in my eyes. I dont know what Ed is trying to accomplish with this thread but KD will never be forgotten. Look at AI.

AI transcended basketball though. KD impact outside of basketball is his mom being da real MVP and burner accounts biggin himself up

 

[Mister Terrific]

I swear the way some you talk about Hakeem is hilarious. You would think he was a 5 time NBA champion with 4 MVPs instead spending most of the 80’s and early 90’s getting dumped out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

Hakeem had 4 years averaging 25 points a game. KD has 13. Hakeem has 2 50 point games. KD has 9. Hakeem had 32 40 point games. KD has 70.


We’ve seen Durant on the same team as other all-time greats Harden, Curry, Klay Thompson, Westbrook, Lillard, Tatum and he was a step above them.


Hakeem and Durant are definitely in the same tier. I swear some of Yall gotta stop drinking and actually watch the game.

 

[Shadow King]

I swear the way some you talk about Hakeem is hilarious. You would think he was a 5 time NBA champion with 4 MVPs instead spending most of the 80’s and early 90’s getting dumped out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

Hakeem had 4 years averaging 25 points a game. KD has 13. Hakeem has 2 50 point games. KD has 9. Hakeem had 32 40 point games. KD has 70.


We’ve seen Durant on the same team as other all-time greats Harden, Curry, Klay Thompson, Westbrook, Lillard, Tatum and he was a step above them.


Hakeem and Durant are definitely in the same tier. I swear some of Yall gotta stop drinking and actually watch the game.

Hakeem was carrying mediocre teams for a decade and was elite on both sides of the ball. Durant has never had a mediocre team outside of his rookie and maybe 2nd year.

Hakeem is Top 10. Durant is questionably Top 15.

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

So, Kevin Durant is probably done with major NBA success...it is what it is. He isn't WASHED, he was top 10 in scoring this year, but lets be real, there is not a path to an NBA title again based on the direction the league is going, the way the sun's abhorrent cap situation is...and the way the conference is structured...I don't see it.

He was on a path to GOAT tier...and I believe he'll settle at "really great nba career" tier.

1-2 NBA titles, multiple scoring titles, MVP, plethora of all nba etc...this is the resume of Moses Malone, Dr. J, Hakeem Olajuwon...and Kevin Durant. And we respect the hell out of them, but they are not in the GOAT conversation, the way that Kareem, MJ, Magic, LeBron, Wilt, etc are. Kevin Durant does not belong there. He was on GOAT path for a while.

I don't think it is even reasonable to place Durant over Larry Bird at this point. I fully believe Giannis and Jokic will eclipse his level of success completely, and the trajectory that the new class of players is going, he could be forgotten in time the way that Moses Malone and Dr J are like, myths to anyone my age or younger.

Has your perspective about Kevin Durant's career changed over the past few years?

He was never in the GOAT conversation. He definitely was one of those "generational" talents that come along and sometimes are seen as having been a key inflection point for the sport during that era. A 7 footer with his array of offensive weapons was something the league never saw before. But GOAT means a lot more - specifically it requires a huge amount of leadership, being the one who dragged your team to championships etc. It was clear from early on that wouldn't be his lane.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

People still think he's better than Larry Bird? Better scorer for sure, but everything else, Bird got him imo.

Better scorer and ballhandler than Bird. Bird was a better passer and rebounder, but I'm not sure he gets as many rebounds in this era cause he'd be pulled out more and wouldn't collapse that fast. Defense they're a wash, Bird's defense was overrated cause he had a stacked team of good defenders around him, Durant looked good on defense too when his squad was loaded. Put Bird in this era and he's gonna struggle to guard a lot of forwards.

Overall I'd say it's pretty close. KD is more talented, but Bird utilized his talent better. Both of them only won with ridiculously stacked teams. The only reason some people think so much more highly of Bird than of KD is because Bird was a lot better at creating an image around himself with his trash-talking persona, but he didn't prove that shyt on the court any more consistently than KD does.

 

[KidJSoul]

Better scorer and ballhandler than Bird. Bird was a better passer and rebounder, but I'm not sure he gets as many rebounds in this era cause he'd be pulled out more and wouldn't collapse that fast. Defense they're a wash, Bird's defense was overrated cause he had a stacked team of good defenders around him, Durant looked good on defense too when his squad was loaded. Put Bird in this era and he's gonna struggle to guard a lot of forwards.

Overall I'd say it's pretty close. KD is more talented, but Bird utilized his talent better. Both of them only won with ridiculously stacked teams. The only reason some people think so much more highly of Bird than of KD is because Bird was a lot better at creating an image around himself with his trash-talking persona, but he didn't prove that shyt on the court any more consistently than KD does.

Jesus

 

[Boonapalist]

Better scorer and ballhandler than Bird. Bird was a better passer and rebounder, but I'm not sure he gets as many rebounds in this era cause he'd be pulled out more and wouldn't collapse that fast. Defense they're a wash, Bird's defense was overrated cause he had a stacked team of good defenders around him, Durant looked good on defense too when his squad was loaded. Put Bird in this era and he's gonna struggle to guard a lot of forwards.

Overall I'd say it's pretty close. KD is more talented, but Bird utilized his talent better. Both of them only won with ridiculously stacked teams. The only reason some people think so much more highly of Bird than of KD is because Bird was a lot better at creating an image around himself with his trash-talking persona, but he didn't prove that shyt on the court any more consistently than KD does.

I wouldn’t call the 1981 Celtics ridiculously stacked at all.

 

[Mister Terrific]

Hakeem was carrying mediocre teams for a decade and was elite on both sides of the ball. Durant has never had a mediocre team outside of his rookie and maybe 2nd year.

Hakeem is Top 10. Durant is questionably Top 15.

“Carrying” is doing a lot of work here since Hakeem made one semi-finals in 7 years.

Also can you tell me what was exceptional about this 39-43 Seattle team that Hakeem lost to in one of his 2 semi finals appearances in 8 years?

You wanna compare this team to a 72 win Warriors, Popavich Spurs or Lebron and Dwade Heat?

 

[Oatmeal]

The only reason KD could be forgotten is because of Giannis and now Wemby, however he will more likely be remembered from his 300 unconfirmed burner Twitter accounts

 

[concise]

One of the things these kids today don’t have that we did when we was in middle/high school and college is ESPN Classic..

Made me a student of the game not just a hooper

That channel is the reason why I know how the 60s 70s and 80s players played and what made the greats from that era great..

They use to play entire games of legends..

Thats why our generation respected the one before us more than the current one does

What's crazy is youtube is an even bigger resource than espn classic was and they just don't use it

i think Barkley is remembered because of how much of a character he was, and how explosive he was compared to his peers then. And even then...to this generation he's the guy from inside the NBA who used to hoop.

One of my analysts is a big nba fan and he literally had never seen Isiah thomas or barkley play, and didn't know Zeke was an all time great... and he's someone who watches 5-6 games a week and came over yesterday to watch the nba draft lottery before we went to the mariners game....he's a hardcore fan...and had never seen nba before kobe really and learned a lot from 'The Last Dance' and going back to 30 for 30s and shyt. Barkley's personality kept him in the culture more than his peers.