Is it reasonable to argue that after 2014 there's a case that Durant was never a top 5 player again?

[ardee]

2015: injured
2016: LeBron, Curry and Russ definitely above. Draymond, Kawhi and CP3 all have cases.
2017: LeBron, Curry, Kawhi and Russ definitely above. Draymond, Harden and CP3 all have cases.
2018: LeBron, Harden and Davis definitely above. Giannis, Curry and 'Dipo all have cases.
2019: Playoff injury, don't see any top 5 case.
2020: injured
2021: missed too many games to have a top 5 case
2022: missed too many games to have a top 5 case

Am I reaching too much? I don't think so, none of the assertions above would've been balked at at the time.

[colts18]

If Kevin Durant is not in the top 5 of your 2017 and 2018 list, you are doing it wrong.

Kevin Durant had a span from 2017-2021 where in 4 playoffs he averaged 31/8/5 on 51/40/89 shooting, 8.6 BPM. He was clearly the best Warriors player in the playoffs from 2017-2019.

[ceiling raiser]

I think the case can be made. I might agree. Curry was the best player on the Warriors in 2017-2019 imo, and the rest of the top level talent was strong. I think he might fit in the back of my top 5 those years, though.

[eminence]

With playoff injury eliminating KD from contention in '19 I don't see Kawhi being definitely above him in '17. I don't ever see Russ clearly above.

It's possible, but feels like a stretch.

[ardee]

If Kevin Durant is not in the top 5 of your 2017 and 2018 list, you are doing it wrong.

Kevin Durant had a span from 2017-2021 where in 4 playoffs he averaged 31/8/5 on 51/40/89 shooting, 8.6 BPM. He was clearly the best Warriors player in the playoffs from 2017-2019.

In 2017 he missed 20 games in the RS and his PO efficiency was a consequence of playing on the best team ever. He didn't magically become a better player in GSW than he was in OKC, where he never had such Playoff efficiency. It's absolutely fair to have guys like Harden and CP3, who carried poor casts and in CP3's case still went off in the Playoffs, over him. And there was a fair bit of debate at the time that Draymond was better than him too given how well the Warriors played when he was injured.

2018 his probably his strongest case for top 5 in this stretch but LeBron, AD and Harden he has no case over. That leaves 2 spots, for which he's competing with Giannis, Curry, CP3 and Oladipo. Is it really that unreasonable to take 2 of those 4 over him, considering the Warriors heavily underachieved in the RS and all impact stats point to Curry being more valuable than him again?

[ardee]

With playoff injury eliminating KD from contention in '19 I don't see Kawhi being definitely above him in '17. I don't ever see Russ clearly above.

It's possible, but feels like a stretch.

Fair point.

I think for Durant it matters more because I don't think his regular season was as impactful as Kawhi's. Warriors heavily underachieved in 2018 and 2019, relative to their talent. So he needed a full Playoffs to make it up.

Kawhi got injured in 2017 yes, but he did at least complete two full rounds and was spectacular in the RS and was in MVP contention till the very end.

[No-more-rings]

I find it pretty hard to leave him off from 2016-2018. From 19-the present yeah he definitely hasn’t been top 5.

[falcolombardi]

You can make the argument for most of thpse years individually not being top 5 (specially with injuries)

But for you to consider all of them not top 5? Really hard and would need you to be extremely low on him

Specially because the arguments to not have some years like 2016 (weaker playoffs to a degree) essentially forces you to have him top 5 in others (incredible playoffs in 17 or 21)

[Cavsfansince84]

I think he was without a doubt top 5 in 2016. I also have a really hard time saying his injury in the finals knocks him out of contention for 2019. He played in his most rs games that year as a Warrior and had a great playoff run up until the injury. All in all I am not going to say he wasn't top 5 due to it just as I wouldn't rule out Kawhi for 2017. For 17-19 I think a ranking of 3-6 are probably all reasonable. So saying he hasn't been top 5 since 2016 is sort of reasonable though I doubt that many nba fans would agree.

[JordansBulls]

There isn't a case that he wasn't top 1 in 2017 and 2018.

[RCM88x]

I don't think I'd rank Russ above him at any point in his career, other than maybe the 2016 playoffs, so there's that already. I also have a hard time putting Draymond over him at any point either.

Same goes for Giannis and Dipo in 2018.

[Dr Positivity]

I'd say Durant is a top 5 player in 2016 and better than Westbrook

He has never been a top 5 player in the regular season since then since GSW barely needed him. However when including playoffs he is probably top 5 in 2017.

[OhayoKD]

If Kevin Durant is not in the top 5 of your 2017 and 2018 list, you are doing it wrong.

Kevin Durant had a span from 2017-2021 where in 4 playoffs he averaged 31/8/5 on 51/40/89 shooting, 8.6 BPM. He was clearly the best Warriors player in the playoffs from 2017-2019.

steph was clearly better in 17 and 19, idk why you're posting his box-stats on the warriors like that's proof. He was statistically worse than russell westbrook in the 2014 and 2016 playoffs. Not a given westbrook was worse in 2017 either when he deservedly won mvp(only kd's new teammate curry compared in impact) and outplayed harden in the first round.

KD was clearly better than steph in 18 so he probably should be top 5 then. Lebron, AD, and Harden only people i'd say have a strong argument

[OhayoKD]

I don't think I'd rank Russ above him at any point in his career, other than maybe the 2016 playoffs, so there's that already. I also have a hard time putting Draymond over him at any point either.

Same goes for Giannis and Dipo in 2018.

westbrook might have been better in the 14 yoffs. Also if you have westbrook higher in 2016, i don't think you can just dimiss the notion he might have been better in 2017.

[70sFan]

I don't agree with that and I'm lower than average on KD. 2016-18 are locks top 5, so is 2019 probably.

[OhayoKD]

If Kevin Durant is not in the top 5 of your 2017 and 2018 list, you are doing it wrong.

Kevin Durant had a span from 2017-2021 where in 4 playoffs he averaged 31/8/5 on 51/40/89 shooting, 8.6 BPM. He was clearly the best Warriors player in the playoffs from 2017-2019.

In 2017 he missed 20 games in the RS and his PO efficiency was a consequence of playing on the best team ever. He didn't magically become a better player in GSW than he was in OKC, where he never had such Playoff efficiency. It's absolutely fair to have guys like Harden and CP3, who carried poor casts and in CP3's case still went off in the Playoffs, over him. And there was a fair bit of debate at the time that Draymond was better than him too given how well the Warriors played when he was injured.

2018 his probably his strongest case for top 5 in this stretch but LeBron, AD and Harden he has no case over. That leaves 2 spots, for which he's competing with Giannis, Curry, CP3 and Oladipo. Is it really that unreasonable to take 2 of those 4 over him, considering the Warriors heavily underachieved in the RS and all impact stats point to Curry being more valuable than him again?

idk about cp3 or dipo over kd tbh. I think cp3 had a singificantly smaller role than harden and ulatimately got hurt. Dipo i don't even think was a clear cut superstar tbh

[OhayoKD]

I think he was without a doubt top 5 in 2016. I also have a really hard time saying his injury in the finals knocks him out of contention for 2019. He played in his most rs games that year as a Warrior and had a great playoff run up until the injury. All in all I am not going to say he wasn't top 5 due to it just as I wouldn't rule out Kawhi for 2017. For 17-19 I think a ranking of 3-6 are probably all reasonable. So saying he hasn't been top 5 since 2016 is sort of reasonable though I doubt that many nba fans would agree.

2019 is weak i feel. Warriors lost 2 games to the clippers and were dead even vs the rockets with him, and then swept the blazers and beat the rocketa without him. Don't think his box-stats really reflected his goodness there. Half his games in 2019 playoffs came against a bad clippers defense on a team with curry/klay/dray. Think i'd have harden, jokic, curry, giannis and kawhi ahead in 19 considering context.

Also have doubts on 2016 since westbrook was better in the playoffs and was probably similar in the rs while playing more games. Draymond went super-saiyan, Lebron went Lebron, and curry outclassed him h2h i feel. I feel #5 in 2016 is a toss up betwene him and kawhi based on how you weigh regular season vs postseason or whatever.

[Cavsfansince84]

2019 is weak i feel. Warriors lost 2 games to the clippers and were dead even vs the rockets with him, and then swept the blazers and beat the rocketa without him. Don't think his box-stats really reflected his goodness there. Half his games in 2019 playoffs came against a bad clippers defense on a team with curry/klay/dray. Think i'd have harden, jokic, curry, giannis and kawhi ahead in 19 considering context.

Also have doubts on 2016 since westbrook was better in the playoffs and was probably similar in the rs while playing more games. Draymond went super-saiyan, Lebron went Lebron, and curry outclassed him h2h i feel. I feel #5 in 2016 is a toss up betwene him and kawhi based on how you weigh regular season vs postseason or whatever.

ok I wasn't saying I felt he was definitely top 5 in 2019 though. Just that I don't think the injury necessarily excludes him from being considered. I wouldn't put WB in 2016 over him either. I think KD is a different tier of player than WB is and I think he sort of showed this in 2014 when Russ went down. KD is a generational type talent despite his shortcomings. WB isn't though he was mvp caliber for a few years. That's how I see it.

[MyUniBroDavis]

2015: injured
2016: LeBron, Curry and Russ definitely above. Draymond, Kawhi and CP3 all have cases.
2017: LeBron, Curry, Kawhi and Russ definitely above. Draymond, Harden and CP3 all have cases.
2018: LeBron, Harden and Davis definitely above. Giannis, Curry and 'Dipo all have cases.
2019: Playoff injury, don't see any top 5 case.
2020: injured
2021: missed too many games to have a top 5 case
2022: missed too many games to have a top 5 case

Am I reaching too much? I don't think so, none of the assertions above would've been balked at at the time.

Russ and Kawhi weren’t better in 2017

[70sFan]

2015: injured
2016: LeBron, Curry and Russ definitely above. Draymond, Kawhi and CP3 all have cases.
2017: LeBron, Curry, Kawhi and Russ definitely above. Draymond, Harden and CP3 all have cases.
2018: LeBron, Harden and Davis definitely above. Giannis, Curry and 'Dipo all have cases.
2019: Playoff injury, don't see any top 5 case.
2020: injured
2021: missed too many games to have a top 5 case
2022: missed too many games to have a top 5 case

Am I reaching too much? I don't think so, none of the assertions above would've been balked at at the time.

Russ and Kawhi weren’t better in 2017

Unless you exclude him because of injury, I think having Kawhi ahead of Durant in 2017 is quite reasonable.