Kevin Durant, who was traded to the Rockets this summer, is reportedly in talks for a potential contract extension, but a deal is nowhere close to being finalized, according to reports. But that does not seem to worry Durant or the Rockets.
Durant has kept himself busy this summer like he usually does: in training and on social media. While he spends most of his time training, Durant loves to engage with fans on social media, especially when it comes to shutting down haters or critics.
One fan discredited a list on social media that ranked Kevin Durant above Michael Jordan as a three-level scorer.
“My top 10 shot creators of all time:
1. Kevin Durant
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Kyrie Irving
4. Carmelo Anthony
5. James Harden
6. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
7. Luka Doncic
8. Michael Jordan
9. Joel Embiid
10. Dirk Nowitzki
Honorary Mentions: Paul George, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, and Joe Johnson”
The fan who criticized this list essentially claimed that Durant was nowhere close to Jordan and that only Kobe Bryant has come anywhere close to him in terms of three-level scoring. This did not sit well with Durant.
“Mike would tell u I’m a 3-level scorer,” responded Durant as if he were speaking for Michael Jordan.
The fan conceded that Durant is an exceptional three-level scorer but still emphasized that he is nowhere close to Jordan. The fan went on to give a hypothetical situation of what would happen if Durant played in the 1980s and 1990s like Jordan. Durant swiftly shut that down as well, calling out the fan’s “bot” behavior.
“Hypotheticals are a bot’s playground,” said Durant to the fan.
Durant is only 1721 points away from surpassing Michael Jordan in points scorer over his NBA career. While Durant has played much longer than Jordan’s career, his longevity is a testament to how much harder he has needed to work on staying healthy, especially considering he missed a whole season (2019-20) due to his Achilles injury.
In terms of skill, one could still argue that Durant and Jordan are on the same level. Even earlier this season, LeBron James conceded that Durant is quite likely the most skilled scorer in NBA history. But the debate gets much more complicated when you need to rank all-time three-level scorers.
In my opinion, Durant is a better three-level scorer than Jordan due to the three-point shot. As much as Jordan claimed that he would take many more threes if it were more acceptable in his era, he only made 32.7% from range in his entire career, while Durant has scored 39% of his shots from range.
Scoring from beyond the arc is a crucial category to truly call yourself a three-level scorer. Inside the paint, Durant and Jordan can essentially do all the same things, but beyond the arc is where Durant takes the edge in this debate for me.
