Whom is the best scorer of the 21st Century, Curry or Durant?

[Freighttrain]

Well, LeBron is number one, as he can't be stopped when driving to the rim. But out of both players, KD can just shoot over people without any effort it almost seems. We've also seen Curry struggle more so than Durant which makes sense since he's small. It's not that hard to figure out.

[Kobeshow]

I mean it's Kobe and it's not close...

- 62 in 3 quarters (outscoring the Western Conference champions)
- 81 in a game
- 9 straight 40+
- 5 straight 50+

35.4 ppg in 2006 would be 40 ppg adjusted for today's league..

Kobe deserve to be considered but the not close is crazy....In the 2006 season,Iverson and LBJ(21 years old) had also a career high in PPG

The list covers events happened from 2003 to 2007

Not just from that single season

[hardenASG13]

Yeah, it's Lebron. Being the all time leading scorer aside, he routinely elevated his scoring when his team needed it. Over his long run, there's nobody in the same ballpark of delivering huge scoring nights when his team needed them most, especially in the playoffs. He did have the one bad series vs. Dallas, but if there was one game to win Lebron in his peak was the most reliable to deliver it. Curry and KD were better shot makers, but Lebron was a freight train.

[scrabbarista]

It's "who is," not "whom is."

[Dupp]

Well it’s obviously lebron but out of these two it’s very clearly curry.

People too fixated on skill set, look at the results.

[Bornstellar]

This poll RealGM is full of prisoners of the moment

This is obviously KD. Curry is undoubtedly a better shooter. But in terms of pure scoring, getting buckets from anywhere on the court in any number of types of action? Kevin Durant. And I hate that guy, but it's the truth

[BoatsNZones]

We've seen Curry against 3 different squads in the Finals where the opposition was really able to key in on him defensively ('15 Cleveland, '19 Toronto and '22 Boston. A couple truly elite playoff defenses and all 3 completely sold out on him.
I would also argue the defenses still attempted to sell out on him in the two Finals with KD, but we'll leave them out for arguments sake).

The Warriors won 2 of the 3 and Curry averaged 30/6/6 on a 61% TS (his lowest efficiency in a Finals being 58% TS in '16, which you could also include, though they were leaning on Klay as a two headed monster in that instance quite a bit once it was clear Curry looked hampered with the MCL).

We've seen Lebron be the true focal point in the Finals at least 4 times, and he has multiple Finals of 53% TS or lower, including a 47% TS. If Curry ever had efficiency through the floor like this in an NBA Finals, we would never hear the end of it. He had a 58% once and it's considered his biggest failure.

As a whole Curry has averaged 27 PPG in the Finals (39 mpg) on a 62% TS. Lebron 28 PPG (43 MPG) on a 56% TS.

FWIW Curry is a career +138 on the floor in the Finals. Lebron is a -86 (interesting little nugget I saw when looking this up).

Curry is clearly the better scorer (to anyone caring to look at this objectively), in the Finals and otherwise. His only argument this century is indeed with Durant (as offensive players as a whole that is obviously not an argument), and I would say it leans Curry.

[NBA4Lyfe]

the guy the league has had to try and nerf in 3 seperate offseasons.. james edward harden

Players who had to lean on foul baiting techniques during the reg season that were inevitably (predictably) curtailed in the post-season as he was routinely exposed to game-planned defense need not apply.

harden played under the same officiating that jordan, wade, jerry west and kobe used lol

harden was the only player of those guys that saw drastic decreases from regular season to playoffs unlike the other guards i named who saw the same free-throw rate or an increase in the playoffs

[Marrrcuss]

It's "who is," not "whom is."

Dont be that guy...

[BoatsNZones]

This poll RealGM is full of prisoners of the moment

This is obviously KD. Curry is undoubtedly a better shooter. But in terms of pure scoring, getting buckets from anywhere on the court in any number of types of action? Kevin Durant. And I hate that guy, but it's the truth

To add some objectivity to the discussion, let's look at their PPG/efficiency (I'll use TS+, which is a players TS% divided by the league average TS% that season) through their 10 year primes:

Curry: 27 PPG with a 115 TS+
Durant: 28 PPG with a 114 TS+

Lebron: 27.5 PPG with a 108 TS+

Kobe: 28.5 PPG with a 105 TS+

Plenty to dig into further (with those numbers and otherwise... could have used per 100 possessions for one), but that's a good base to start with. I would say it is indeed between Curry and KD as pure scorers, and it's really a matter of preference, but I've certainly seen more defensive pressure thrown at Curry over the years than the other way around, including when they were teammates. Kobe is pretty clearly the 4th of the group.

edit: for those curious on the points per game averages as per 100 possessions instead (equalizing mpg/pace), the decade primes would be:

Curry: 38.2
Durant: 38.2
Lebron: 37.6
Kobe: 37.5

I'm sure you have a clear explanation for these stats I laid out then, being it's so obvious? KD having multiple playoff series of scoring performances significantly worse than Curry has ever had, by the way. See: 2022 1st round, 2016 WCF, 2013 2nd round, etc. His team sent packing in each of these cases btw.

[og15]

Durant or Bron. The league has pushed rules to benefit Curry while Durant and Bron have had rule changes made in an attempt to nerf them... Give either one of those two the friendly whistle Curry has historically gotten and oh boyyy watch out for those fireworks...

What are the rules changes intended to nerf LeBron and Durant?

[WillyJakkz]

It's obviously LeBron.

He set the all-time scoring record in the 21st century.

Most 50 point games:

LeBron - 15
Curry - 13
Durant - 10

Did you know that Durant's career scoring high is only 55 points? And he's only scored 55 points once.

Curry has only done it twice.

LeBron has games of 55, 56, 56, 57 and 61.

Curry scored 50 points in the first round? Cute. LeBron scored 51 in the NBA Finals.

------

As an aside to this, check out their averages in 50 point games:

LeBron (15 games): 53.2 points, 7.2 assists, 7.9 rebounds
Curry (13 games): 52.5 points, 5.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds
Durant (10 games): 51.8 points, 5.5 assists, 7.7 rebounds

LeBron is clearly superior to both of them.

------

Best scorer:

1. LeBron
2. Curry
3. Durant

LeBron's not a scorer because he does other things at an elite level so he's not seen as a scorer.

Huh???

That's the misconception.

[YamaChan]

Lmao. It sure as hell isn't LeBron. These takes are delusional. He's still an incredibly streaky shooter, can't be counted on to close out a game at the free throw line and is a very mediocre jump shooter compared to KD and Curry.

Why do his fanboys pretend like the 2011 Finals didn't happen? Or 2012? Where he shot a blistering 18% from 3-point range. Or 2013, when the Spurs guarded him by leaving him wide open for jumpshots, which actually worked for half the series. Or 2015, where he was forced to become a volume shooter and transformed into Russell Westbrook with his horrid efficiency.

LeBron isn't even in the discussion.

Durant is the answer.

Game 3 of the 2018 NBA Finals perfectly encapsulates the difference between Steph and KD's scoring.

Speaking of, KD hasn't had a single letdown on that stage. By the numbers, he's the greatest Finals scorer in the history of the sport.

[jehosafats]

We've seen 3 Finals with Curry where the opposition was really able to key in on him defensively ('15 Cleveland, '19 Toronto and '22 Boston. A couple truly elite playoff defenses and all 3 truly sold out on him.
I would also argue the defenses still attempted to sell out on him in the other two Finals with KD, but we'll leave them out for arguments sake).

The Warriors won 2 of the 3 and Curry averaged 30/6/6 on a 61% TS (his lowest efficiency in a Finals being 58% TS in '16, which you could also include, though they were leaning on Klay as a two headed monster in that instance quite a bit once it was clear Curry looked hampered with the MCL).

We've seen Lebron be the true focal point in the Finals at least 4 times, and he has multiple Finals of 53% TS or lower, including a 47% TS. If Curry ever had efficiency through the floor like this in an NBA Finals, we would never hear the end of it. He had a 58% once and it's considered his biggest failure.

As a whole Curry has averaged 27 PPG in the Finals (39 mpg) on a 62% TS. Lebron 28 PPG (43 MPG) on a 56% TS.

FWIW Curry is a career +138 on the floor in the Finals. Lebron is a -86 (interesting little nugget I saw when looking this up).

Curry is clearly the better scorer, in the Finals and otherwise. His only argument this century is indeed with Durant (as offensive players as a whole that is obviously not an argument).

You're basically saying Lebron averaged more PPG in the Finals while winning just as many rings without the overwhelmingly impressive rosters Golden State was fielding when Steph averaged less points and received less FMVPs.

[Marrrcuss]

This poll RealGM is full of prisoners of the moment

This is obviously KD. Curry is undoubtedly a better shooter. But in terms of pure scoring, getting buckets from anywhere on the court in any number of types of action? Kevin Durant. And I hate that guy, but it's the truth

To add some objectivity to the discussion, let's look at their PPG/efficiency (I'll use TS+, which is a players TS% divided by the league average TS% that season) through their 10 year primes:

Curry: 27 PPG with a 115 TS+
Durant: 28 PPG with a 114 TS+

Lebron: 27.5 PPG with a 108 TS+

Kobe: 28.5 PPG with a 105 TS+

Plenty to dig into further (with those numbers and otherwise... could have used per 100 possessions for one), but that's a good base to start with. I would say it is indeed between Curry and KD as pure scorers, and it's really a matter of preference, but I've certainly seen more defensive pressure thrown at Curry over the years than the other way around, including when they were teammates. Kobe is pretty clearly the 4th of the group.

edit: for those curious on the points per game averages as per 100 possessions instead (equalizing mpg/pace), the decade primes would be:

Curry: 38.2
Durant: 38.2
Lebron: 37.6
Kobe: 37.5

I'm sure you have a clear explanation for these stats I laid out then, being it's so obvious? KD having multiple playoff series of scoring performances significantly worse than Curry has ever had, by the way. See: 2022 1st round, 2016 WCF, 2013 2nd round, etc. His team sent packing in each of these cases btw.

Im not a fan of TS% because the math aint math-ing for me. The fact that it can go above 100% doesnt work for my taste.

But offense isnt limited to just scoring. Why conveniently leave out assists? GSW shoots so much better than say, the lakers. Steph should be absolutely blowing lebron out in assists. Post it, bruh!

[BoatsNZones]

We've seen 3 Finals with Curry where the opposition was really able to key in on him defensively ('15 Cleveland, '19 Toronto and '22 Boston. A couple truly elite playoff defenses and all 3 truly sold out on him.
I would also argue the defenses still attempted to sell out on him in the other two Finals with KD, but we'll leave them out for arguments sake).

The Warriors won 2 of the 3 and Curry averaged 30/6/6 on a 61% TS (his lowest efficiency in a Finals being 58% TS in '16, which you could also include, though they were leaning on Klay as a two headed monster in that instance quite a bit once it was clear Curry looked hampered with the MCL).

We've seen Lebron be the true focal point in the Finals at least 4 times, and he has multiple Finals of 53% TS or lower, including a 47% TS. If Curry ever had efficiency through the floor like this in an NBA Finals, we would never hear the end of it. He had a 58% once and it's considered his biggest failure.

As a whole Curry has averaged 27 PPG in the Finals (39 mpg) on a 62% TS. Lebron 28 PPG (43 MPG) on a 56% TS.

FWIW Curry is a career +138 on the floor in the Finals. Lebron is a -86 (interesting little nugget I saw when looking this up).

Curry is clearly the better scorer, in the Finals and otherwise. His only argument this century is indeed with Durant (as offensive players as a whole that is obviously not an argument).

You're basically saying Lebron averaged more PPG in the Finals while winning just as many rings without the overwhelmingly impressive rosters Golden State was fielding when Steph averaged less points and received less FMVPs.

I guess that's one way to interpret what I just laid out. I actually don't even know where to start with a response here, as I can tell I'm speaking to a wall.

Im not a fan of TS% because the math aint math-ing for me. The fact that it can go above 100% doesnt work for my taste.

But offense isnt limited to just scoring. Why conveniently leave out assists? GSW shoots so much better than say, the lakers. Steph should be absolutely blowing lebron out in assists. Post it, bruh!

Try to stick with us Marcus. This is a thread on scoring ability.

And I'm sorry that math is hard for you. You're going to have to work that one out on your own time.

[MavsDirk41]

Well, LeBron is number one, as he can't be stopped when driving to the rim. But out of both players, KD can just shoot over people without any effort it almost seems. We've also seen Curry struggle more so than Durant which makes sense since he's small. It's not that hard to figure out.

Lebron james is not the best scorer out of these 3 so just stop. You have lebron james rose colored glasses on man. Durant and Curry can both shoot from mid range, the 3, and both are excellent free throw shooters. Both hover around 50/40/90. James shot around 31% from 3 this year and career wise he is about 34%. He shoots in the low to mid 70s from the free throw line. If he isnt scoring from inside, he is unreliable offensively. Some of the things you guys post on here are hilarious.

[Bornstellar]

This poll RealGM is full of prisoners of the moment

This is obviously KD. Curry is undoubtedly a better shooter. But in terms of pure scoring, getting buckets from anywhere on the court in any number of types of action? Kevin Durant. And I hate that guy, but it's the truth

To add some objectivity to the discussion, let's look at their PPG/efficiency (I'll use TS+, which is a players TS% divided by the league average TS% that season) through their 10 year primes:

Curry: 27 PPG with a 115 TS+
Durant: 28 PPG with a 114 TS+

Lebron: 27.5 PPG with a 108 TS+

Kobe: 28.5 PPG with a 105 TS+

Plenty to dig into further (with those numbers and otherwise... could have used per 100 possessions for one), but that's a good base to start with. I would say it is indeed between Curry and KD as pure scorers, and it's really a matter of preference, but I've certainly seen more defensive pressure thrown at Curry over the years than the other way around, including when they were teammates. Kobe is pretty clearly the 4th of the group.

edit: for those curious on the points per game averages as per 100 possessions instead (equalizing mpg/pace), the decade primes would be:

Curry: 38.2
Durant: 38.2
Lebron: 37.6
Kobe: 37.5

I'm sure you have a clear explanation for these stats I laid out then, being it's so obvious? KD having multiple playoff series of scoring performances significantly worse than Curry has ever had, by the way. See: 2022 1st round, 2016 WCF, 2013 2nd round, etc. His team sent packing in each of these cases btw.

Your entire argument is basically made on TS% as if scoring efficiency which is highly skewed by three pointers is the defining source of what it means to be a great scorer. And even then your numbers above have KD and Curry basically equal. I also watch games and don't blindly use TS% stats as the end-all-be-all of determining who I think is the best scorer.

If Curry was a better scorer than KD, he would have those two Finals MVPs sitting on KDs mantle

[Marrrcuss]

We've seen 3 Finals with Curry where the opposition was really able to key in on him defensively ('15 Cleveland, '19 Toronto and '22 Boston. A couple truly elite playoff defenses and all 3 truly sold out on him.
I would also argue the defenses still attempted to sell out on him in the other two Finals with KD, but we'll leave them out for arguments sake).

The Warriors won 2 of the 3 and Curry averaged 30/6/6 on a 61% TS (his lowest efficiency in a Finals being 58% TS in '16, which you could also include, though they were leaning on Klay as a two headed monster in that instance quite a bit once it was clear Curry looked hampered with the MCL).

We've seen Lebron be the true focal point in the Finals at least 4 times, and he has multiple Finals of 53% TS or lower, including a 47% TS. If Curry ever had efficiency through the floor like this in an NBA Finals, we would never hear the end of it. He had a 58% once and it's considered his biggest failure.

As a whole Curry has averaged 27 PPG in the Finals (39 mpg) on a 62% TS. Lebron 28 PPG (43 MPG) on a 56% TS.

FWIW Curry is a career +138 on the floor in the Finals. Lebron is a -86 (interesting little nugget I saw when looking this up).

Curry is clearly the better scorer, in the Finals and otherwise. His only argument this century is indeed with Durant (as offensive players as a whole that is obviously not an argument).

You're basically saying Lebron averaged more PPG in the Finals while winning just as many rings without the overwhelmingly impressive rosters Golden State was fielding when Steph averaged less points and received less FMVPs.

I guess that's one way to interpret what I just laid out. I actually don't even know where to start with a response here, as I can tell I'm speaking to a wall.

Im not a fan of TS% because the math aint math-ing for me. The fact that it can go above 100% doesnt work for my taste.

But offense isnt limited to just scoring. Why conveniently leave out assists? GSW shoots so much better than say, the lakers. Steph should be absolutely blowing lebron out in assists. Post it, bruh!

Try to stick with us Marcus. This is a thread on scoring ability.

And I'm sorry that math is hard for you. You're going to have to work that one out on your own time.

Again, to omit creating opportunities for others is shortsighted. I mean all steph stans claim he has 4.5 people on him at all times. Even go overboard with the usage of the team "gravity". Imma choose NOT to stick with you bruh

[MavsDirk41]

Well it’s obviously lebron but out of these two it’s very clearly curry.

People too fixated on skill set, look at the results.

Does scoring include 3 point shooting and free throw shooting? Cause Durant and Curry are both way more efficient than James in those categories.