Greater peak: KD or AD?

[Mogspan]

I know the general consensus, but I’m curious to see how lop-sided the results will be on this board.

I believe that AD at his best has a very strong argument as being a superior overall impact player to KD at his best.

Is that reasonable?

[OhayoKD]

I know the general consensus, but I’m curious to see how lop-sided the results will be on this board.

I believe that AD at his best has a very strong argument as being a superior overall impact player to KD at his best.

Is that a reasonable?

If you are just looking at level of play/impact over a single-season/postseason Durant has nothing on par with AD's 2020 bubble performance. KD does gain ground over longer-time frames though and at some point it becomes pretty clear. 2018 is also probably arguable against any KD year though AD loses a "how often did you play at this level" contest pretty handily.

[RCM88x]

Multi year, I think it's pretty clearly KD. Single year, AD has a good argument.

[AEnigma]

Funny comparison in that the theory of both generally outpaces their reality, and both have one title-winning postseason next to a superior teammate where that theory was fully realised in a never-since replicated way.

I generally prefer the theory of Davis to the theory of Durant. However, Durant has been a little more consistent, so the larger you make your sample, the more it advantages him.

[ardee]

I think Durant's peak is 2014 and Davis' is 2020.

Davis had a better season overall because he clearly brought it more in the Playoffs, but getting to play with LeBron is certainly a bigger luxury than playing with Russ.

I think it's Davis overall but I'm not wedded to the notion.

[rand]

2017 is peak Durant. His performance during the Warriors run can't just be dismissed because of the quality of his supporting cast, otherwise 2020 AD could be dismissed almost as easily since he had an amazing supporting cast that season too.

I'll take KD. A vastly superior offensive engine. AD obviously was much better defensively but KD was still above average on that end too.

[cupcakesnake]

Hard to assess because KD's peak is paired with a lot more playoff performance.

Davis is pretty dynamite whenever he gets to the playoffs healty, but it's hard due to circumstance to stack that up with KD non-stop deep playoff runs.

They collide for a minute in 2018 and played each other to a standstill. The context of course involved KD on a stacked team and AD's team completely outgunned. Steph/Draymond/Klay/Iggy vs. Jrue/Mirotic/E'Twanna Moore/Rondo

[Mogspan]

I know the general consensus, but I’m curious to see how lop-sided the results will be on this board.

I believe that AD at his best has a very strong argument as being a superior overall impact player to KD at his best.

Is that a reasonable?

If you are just looking at level of play/impact over a single-season/postseason Durant has nothing on par with AD's 2020 bubble performance. KD does gain ground over longer-time frames though and at some point it becomes pretty clear. 2018 is also probably arguable against any KD year though AD loses a "how often did you play at this level" contest pretty handily.

2018 AD, after Boogie went down with an Achilles tear, went on a ten-game win streak and swept the 3 seed with his second-best teammate being Nikola Mirotić, who was getting DNP - CDs the following season’s playoffs.

That summer, he tightened his handle and then dominated the league in box score stats and RPM prior to the trade request.

In 2020, he was the best defender in the league and the top scorer on a team that gentleman swept the West and won the title.

The box score early on I believe gave a false impression of his impact - and the couple years after the title sullied his reputation to an extent - but I feel he had a comfortable 3-year stretch as arguably the best or second-best player in the world. It wasn’t just some flash in the pan bubble run.

And we have people saying it’s a travesty that he was on the 75th anniversary team

[Mogspan]

2017 is peak Durant. His performance during the Warriors run can't just be dismissed because of the quality of his supporting cast, otherwise 2020 AD could be dismissed almost as easily since he had an amazing supporting cast that season too.

I'll take KD. A vastly superior offensive engine. AD obviously was much better defensively but KD was still above average on that end too.

We can’t discount it? You think it’s a coincidence that KD looked unstoppable playing amongst a core that just won 73 games?

Is he a worthwhile “offensive engine”? When Steph sat and he played, the Warriors simply weren’t very good. He’s an all-time scorer, but he, like AD, doesn’t have the temperament, ball-handling, nor passing talent to really be the engine of a highly competitive team.

As auxiliary offensive players, I think AD generally provides more value (but it’s arguable), and defensively, it’s not even a discussion. The difference in their reputations comes down to KD having played with HoF ball-handlers practically his entire prime.