Is Kevin Durant the Best Player in the World?
Kevin Durant played all 48 minutes in Brooklyn's Game 5 upset victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. He was the first player to do so in a postseason game since LeBron James in 2018. Durant also became the first player in NBA history to score 45 points, pull in 15 rebounds and dish out 10 assists in a playoff game. He did so on 69.6 percent shooting, the third-highest mark ever in a 40-point playoff triple double, according to ESPN Stats & Info. And he did so with Kyrie Irving sitting out with an ankle injury, and James Harden still not 100%. He quite literally willed his team to victory.
Has this game solidified him as the best player in the world? It's a fitting bit of trivia for Durant, who has spent practically his entire career chasing James for the unofficial title of greatest basketball player on Earth. It's a race he famously acknowledged in a 2013 interview with Sports Illustrated. But regardless of what he said, it took the rest of the basketball world years to catch up to his viewpoints. Durant's decision to join the 73-win Golden State Warriors in 2016 almost disqualified him from contention for "best in the world" status. How could a player fairly be compared to his peers when he got to play with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green while they didn't? Even as Durant won titles with the Warriors, the degree of difficulty was so low in the minds of fans that James was still the consensus choice.
He was probably still the correct one at the time. He became the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double in the Finals during his 2017 loss to Durant, but his 2018 run cemented him as the superior all-around player. Without Kyrie Irving, he astonishingly took a team of role players back to the Finals by leading the Cavaliers in points, assists, steals and blocks during the postseason. When he came face to face with Durant in the Finals, he dropped 51 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on Golden State's home floor, losing only after J.R. Smith infamously forgot the score in the final seconds of regulation. Nothing could have better encapsulated the perceived difference between the two. Durant didn't even need to lead his team in scoring to get the victory. LeBron scored almost half of Cleveland's points and assisted on many of the others … but his teammates botched his victory, and it wasn't just Smith. George Hill had to miss the free throw that Smith rebounded. The Cavaliers shot 3 for 16 on 3-pointers that James passed into. Merely getting that team to the Finals was an accomplishment Durant couldn't even match by winning them.
It fit their styles to a tee. Durant's world-class scoring has always been his calling card, and seeking out elite playmakers and spacing only ever enhanced it. James has been similarly active in surrounding himself with talent, but not as successful. He never has had three All-Star teammates, nor has he played with another MVP in his prime. He hasn't needed to. LeBron's all-around brilliance has allowed him to lift inferior players to heights Durant never needed to. Until Tuesday.
Durant's 49-17-10 in 48 minutes was arguably a top 5 playoff game ever. Perhaps with this level of contribution, he has proved the naysayers wrong. He can carry a weakened team. He can step up when they need him. Perhaps with this historical performance, people will finally start to accept him as the greater basketball player in the world today.
