Prediction: KD will play into the 2030's

[Onlytimewilltel]

Say what you will about Durant, but he loves basketball about as much as anyone, seemingly to the point where he's hyperfocused on it 24/7 and cares little about anything else. I expect him to retire at an older age than LeBron will, and I seriously think Curry and obviously LeBron will be retired long enough to be inducted into the HOF before KD retires.

He's already at 17 seasons and over 41,000 minutes. There are 4 more seasons in the 2020s. Odds of him playing more than 21 seasons are pretty slim. He's also already averaging about 55 GP per season over the past half decade, and will be 37 this season.

I don't think his body lets him play into the 2030s. I don't think he sets the record for seasons played. That's Vince Carter and Lebron at the moment, and Lebron's still going.

Then again, he is the slim reaper.... so

[Vae Victus]

Sure KD can hang on until the 2030s, only if he's willing to sign vet mins for a few seasons. KD is likely to remain a star/fringe star->above avg level player for 2-3 years, avging 60ish games season. Then after that he'll trend downwards to where teams dont want to offer him real money due to age/injury/availability (50ish or less games). If Ball is truly KDs life and he doesnt really care about how much he's getting paid (not feeling disrespected) and is still willing to grind it out against the young up and rising thundercats of the league, more than a few teams would love to sign KD and let him be a draw ala Kobe.

[tsherkin]

Say what you will about Durant, but he loves basketball about as much as anyone, seemingly to the point where he's hyperfocused on it 24/7 and cares little about anything else. I expect him to retire at an older age than LeBron will, and I seriously think Curry and obviously LeBron will be retired long enough to be inducted into the HOF before KD retires.

He's already at 17 seasons and over 41,000 minutes. There are 4 more seasons in the 2020s. Odds of him playing more than 21 seasons are pretty slim. He's also already averaging about 55 GP per season over the past half decade, and will be 37 this season.

I don't think his body lets him play into the 2030s. I don't think he sets the record for seasons played. That's Vince Carter and Lebron at the moment, and Lebron's still going.

Then again, he is the slim reaper.... so

No no, he rejected that nickname to be The Servant, so someone cooler can become the Slim Reaper... xD

[Beethoven]

I don't think so, although I am a bigger fan of KD than I was say 3 years ago.
My feelings towards him have evolved more than any other superstar out there for me.
I do hope he can break the 40000 mark for most points in nba history though.

Edit: just checked the stat. It looks impossible unless he gets some bionic parts like lebron did. Still would have been cool.

[Hornet Mania]

I agree that KD is going until the wheels totally fall off. He's the type who won't walk away, he'll have to be turned down by every team before he calls it a career because it's everything to him.

It's going to be an extremely tough task to make it past 2030 though. Not impossible, he has great size and should be able to score over people forever, it's just a matter of if he can do the running necessary to stay on the floor. Also depends on if he's willing to take a paycut and shift down to being a role player and how soon.

[The4thHorseman]

In order for him to play into the 2030's he'd eventually at some point have to agree to come off the bench and I highly doubt we'll see that day. I think his ego (which isn't bad) would tell him to retire first than be a 20mins or less 6th man.

[NyKnicks1714]

If he plays through the 2029-2030 season, he'll be over a year younger than Vince Carter was when he retired and about the same age as LeBron will be at the end of this season. It's not unreasonable to me at all.

[Edrees]

Most stars don't choose to retire, retirement chooses them

[Bad Bart]

Say what you will about Durant, but he loves basketball about as much as anyone, seemingly to the point where he's hyperfocused on it 24/7 and cares little about anything else. I expect him to retire at an older age than LeBron will, and I seriously think Curry and obviously LeBron will be retired long enough to be inducted into the HOF before KD retires.

He's already at 17 seasons and over 41,000 minutes. There are 4 more seasons in the 2020s. Odds of him playing more than 21 seasons are pretty slim. He's also already averaging about 55 GP per season over the past half decade, and will be 37 this season.

I don't think his body lets him play into the 2030s. I don't think he sets the record for seasons played. That's Vince Carter and Lebron at the moment, and Lebron's still going.

Then again, he is the slim reaper.... so

Onlytimewilltel

[Onlytimewilltel]

He's already at 17 seasons and over 41,000 minutes. There are 4 more seasons in the 2020s. Odds of him playing more than 21 seasons are pretty slim. He's also already averaging about 55 GP per season over the past half decade, and will be 37 this season.

I don't think his body lets him play into the 2030s. I don't think he sets the record for seasons played. That's Vince Carter and Lebron at the moment, and Lebron's still going.

Then again, he is the slim reaper.... so

Onlytimewilltel

You got that right! lol

[Special_Puppy]

I think he retires around 2028 or so.

[Special_Puppy]

I think the question should be whether he sustains an all-star caliber level of play into the 2030s.

If he is willing to do what Vince did and become a role player or bench player, then yes he will be able to play into his early 40s.

Duncan in 2016 at 39 years old was still a very good player, but clearly not the all-star he once was. No doubt he could have played another 4-5 years as a bench role player if he wanted to.

Duncan suffered injuries towards the end of the 2016 season that basically forced him into retirement. Look up his stats in the OKC series

[TheGeneral99]

I think the question should be whether he sustains an all-star caliber level of play into the 2030s.

If he is willing to do what Vince did and become a role player or bench player, then yes he will be able to play into his early 40s.

Duncan in 2016 at 39 years old was still a very good player, but clearly not the all-star he once was. No doubt he could have played another 4-5 years as a bench role player if he wanted to.

Duncan suffered injuries towards the end of the 2016 season that basically forced him into retirement. Look up his stats in the OKC series

He had injury issues that series, but he literally had 19 points and 5 rebounds playing 34 minutes in his last playoff game.

He led the league in box defensive plus minus despite being 39 years old.

He still could have played a few more years if he decided to take a lesser role and play less minutes.