At their best who's a better scorer Kevin Durant or James Harden?

[SUPERVILLAIN]

Durant owns 4 scoring titles. Highest average: 32.0 PPG
Harden owns 3 scoring titles. Highest average: 36.1 PPG

Bonus question: Does Stephen Curry belongs in this conversation?

[cam24thomas]

In most of his best seasons, Harden was not a reliable playoff performer, which means he's many, many, many notches below Durant - one of the all-time best playoff performers

[Arlo]

Durant easily. Efficiency, variety and clutch.

[JRoy]

The guy whose game isn’t built on flopping his way to the free throw line 20 times a night.

[Black Jack]

Durant gets buckets incredibly easy but I voted Harden.

The reason is, Harden at peak was a complete one man offense. He runs the point and also dominates the ball inside and out effectively. You just need a couple shooters to bail him out and a big man who can dunk alley oops and putbacks. He's the easiest guy to build around I've ever seen. You can more or less roll the ball out for peak harden and he will do his thing.

[cam24thomas]

Durant gets buckets incredibly easy but I voted Harden.

The reason is, Harden at peak was a complete one man offense. He runs the point and also dominates the ball inside and out effectively. You just need a couple shooters to bail him out and a big man who can dunk alley oops and putbacks. He's the easiest guy to build around I've ever seen. You can more or less roll the ball out for peak harden and he will do his thing.

But a complete failure against playoff defense
That really shows he wouldn't be a great scorer in the tougher defensive eras.

[OriginalRed]

If it's just regular season then you can argue Harden because that man putting up scoring performances that were just unreal. The problem however was that Harden was never, and I mean quite literally never, able to reproduce his regular season scoring in the playoffs.

KD on the other hand not only kept up his scoring in the post season but also improved it and did so with insane efficiency, meaning that he wasn't getting his points off free throws.

So KD is the answer.

[MrBigShot]

Compare the playoffs and it's really no contest. KD scorers more, more efficiently, in a larger variety of ways that put more pressure on the defense. He has always done this literally everywhere he's gone. OKC, GS, Brooklyn. Other than the most recent round against Boston.

[GregOden]

He becomes a low percentage chucker come playoff time. I think the Rockets vs. Jazz first round series in 2019 sort of cemented what I felt about Harden which was just total offensive futility against a playoff defense if he’s not getting to the FT line.

[cam24thomas]

Harden would ruin your team by dominating the regular season and then disappearing in the playoffs.
So if you were trying to win a championship, you'd be best to trade Harden for someone who will be reliable in the playoffs.
You can't assume that his spectator teammates will step-up and save him in playoffs.... or that he'll pass the ball enough to even allow them to step-up.

[SelfishPlayer]

KD is a better scorer, Harden is a better #1 option. What's the difference? KD is getting buckets no matter who he plays with and no matter the system. Harden needs to be featured as the #1 option.

[LarsV8]

Durant is a better scorer, Harden is a better offensive player.

[Fencer reregistered]

Durant gets buckets incredibly easy but I voted Harden.

The reason is, Harden at peak was a complete one man offense. He runs the point and also dominates the ball inside and out effectively. You just need a couple shooters to bail him out and a big man who can dunk alley oops and putbacks. He's the easiest guy to build around I've ever seen. You can more or less roll the ball out for peak harden and he will do his thing.

That's an argument for Harden being the better offensive player. I might even agree; it's a close call.

It's not much of an argument for him being the better SCORER.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Statiscally it's close, but:

[BK_2020]

In most of his best seasons, Harden was not a reliable playoff performer, which means he's many, many, many notches below Durant - one of the all-time best playoff performers

Harden averaged 28.4 ppg with Houston in the playoffs. Harden did not average 36 like he did in the regular season but that doesn't mean he was "not a reliable playoff performer."
KD was a bit better but the idea that Harden can't score in the playoffs is pure fanfiction.

[Nuntius]

Durant and it's not close. Durant is the best and most complete scorer of his generation by far, imo. Harden is definitely a much, much better playmaker than Durant so if the question was "who is the better offensive player" I could see why someone would vote for Harden but if we're just talking about pure scoring ability then the answer is Durant.

Curry is the best shooter of his generation (and one of the best shooters of all time) and he definitely belongs in this conversation. I could definitely argue that Curry is a more complete offensive weapon than either of the two.

[Point-Forward]

Even though statistically it might look comparable, in actuality I don't think it really is. Kevin Durant is the ultimate scoring weapon. The most gifted scorer the league has ever seen when you take everything into account: he can play off the ball, he can shoot off the dribble, excellent with the three point, automatic at the line, has the size of a really big guy and the agility + mobility of a small one, elite athleticism, can post up, can finish in traffic and transition. You name it. And on top of that, he's incredible efficient, no matter the context (Regular Season and Playoffs). To me, he's always been an hybrid between McGrady, Nowitzki and Gervin. A lab-made machine.

The thing is, his career won't probably round out as ideally as other all time greats because of injuries at inconvenient times, and the fact that he hasn't really commited to a franchise or a project during an extensive period of time. He's no Duncan, Bryant or Nowitzki in that regard, and many people rightfully question his attitude (with fair arguments in my view). But with all of that said, he's been arguably the best scorer in the NBA for over 10 years, which is saying something. I mean, in 2009-2010, at 21 years old and with only 2 previous seasons of experience in the league, the guy ended up as the top scorer at +30 ppg. It's amazing.

Durant all the way here.

[dhsilv2]

People are really overrating KD here who has mostly had much better teammates that made his life infinitely easier. They're exaggerating how bad Harden's playoff drops have been. I still have KD here, but some of the hyperbole here is just going into insanity. KD would struggle a lot more if stuck in Harden's situation in Houston and Harden would have excelled much more next to a passer in Westbrook or with Curry.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

Think harden pretty easily for me. Playmaking is the same as scoring in my book.

[Eagle4]

People are really overrating KD here who has mostly had much better teammates that made his life infinitely easier. They're exaggerating how bad Harden's playoff drops have been. I still have KD here, but some of the hyperbole here is just going into insanity. KD would struggle a lot more if stuck in Harden's situation in Houston and Harden would have excelled much more next to a passer in Westbrook or with Curry.

Please. Which other star of Harden's caliber consistently takes a dip in production come post season? Seriously, guys like Lebron, Wade, Kobe all RISE or at worst stay pat in terms of their production in the playoffs as they're are far more resilientand versatile scorers. Meanwhile, Harden's numbers have dipped in 6 of his last 8 post seasons. His game is gimmicky and thus doesn't hold up when it really matters. A guy that relies on the refs to call fouls using his silly baiting tactics does worse in the playoffs when refs swallow their whistle, go figure.