For two years, Kevin Durant and LeBron James stood atop the NBA as the league’s two best players, facing off in both the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals.
Although KD’s Warriors ran through the Cleveland Cavaliers in both series, LeBron’s miraculous performance in 2016 and overall track record still has many fans anointing him as the league’s best player. But former Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoc is one of the few arguing for Durant’s status as the NBA’s top talent.
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“Plenty of times LeBron is mistaken as a point guard,” Kukoc wrote in a Reddit AMA on Saturday. “Which is awesome. Kevin Durant, to me in my personal opinion, is the best player in the NBA. He can easily bring the ball up the floor. That’s a style that the triangle offense allowed that any one of us could run the point or be a post person or fill the corners. It’s not requirement to have a point guard, you can have skill players with 3 or 4 guys on the same team playing multiple positions.”
Kukoc’s game definitely is more closely mirrored by Durant, who had a similarly lanky build.
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KD’s offensive game might be the closest thing to limitless the league has ever seen, but the way LeBron James essentially owned one of the league’s two conferences for nearly a decade is something that only has been replicated by dynasties led by Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
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Plus, only time will tell whether KD fully can ascend back to that elite level from tearing his Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals.