Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players this game has ever seen, and he is also one of the more unique ones as well. His combination of size and skill is one that almost no one possesses, and people are always on the lookout for the next KD.
However, the term gets thrown around a bit too loosely, and some of the youngsters compared to KD are often just compared because of their similar builds. One such player was, in fact, Kevon Looney, and while speaking about his development on the Colin Cowherd Podcast, Draymond Green brought up his displeasure with how some of these comparisons come about:
“When Kevon Looney was coming out of high school, people were comparing him to Kevin Durant. Now, I always get mad when people just compare tall, skinny guys to Kevin Durant because that’s what everyone wants to do, they look at a physique, they say ‘Oh, man! That guy’s tall and skinny, he can handle the ball… Boom! That’s Kevin Durant!’ And I think it is the absolute worst thing that people can do in basketball. Like, you don’t just compare people to Kevin Durant because of stature because the reality is, Kevin Durant is arguably the most talented and skilled basketball player that we’ve ever seen in NBA history,”
“We have not seen someone 7 feet, dribbles the ball like a point guard, shoots the ball like a two-guard, post-up like a 3 and 4, and can protect the rim like a 5. We’ve never seen this before. It’s like if you went into a lab and they say ‘Hey you can create a player,’ you’re going to create a player that’s Kevin Durant. You’re going to create a guy that’s 6’10” to 7 feet, somewhere in there, that can dribble, shoot, pass. That’s what you’re going to create on NBA 2K. I used to do it as a kid, it was Kevin Durant.”
Dray makes a very good point here and, going back to what we said earlier, there is no one who has the combination of size and skill that KD has. Not every tall and skinny guy who can handle the ball is the next KD, but people just don’t seem to get it.
The overall skills he has for a guy who’s almost 7 feet tall are otherworldly. We have never seen someone with that size being capable of doing literally everything on a basketball court and there is a good chance we never will see another. It’s why someone like Stephen A. Smith refuses to concede that Steph Curry will become greater than KD with a 4th championship because the individual ability is just off the charts.
For all that praise that Draymond gave Durant, however, the Warriors forward went on to praise Steph Curry and expressed how impactful Curry was in the Finals. Green claimed that Curry was double-teamed 7 times more than KD, which Durant classified as 100% false, and Draymond responded by asking KD to listen to the entire take. The two thankfully seemed to deal with the situation fairly well and it’s good to see them give each other the props they deserve.
