KD has become overrated as a scorer.

[mdonnelly1989]

I want to preface this by saying that KD is a LOCK Top 10 scorer of all time, borderline top 5. He's elite.

However, what makes me feel like he's overrated is when he gets discusses as the greatest scorer of all time, when he may not even be the greatest scorer of this ERA.

What you always here "6'10, long wing span, can scorer from anywhere on the court. One of the most efficient scorers of all time."

All these true, which is exactly WHY he should have averaged 30 for a CAREER. Not just once in his career.

He's never done remotely close to what someone like MJ has done. Averaged 28/50% shooting as a rookie. 37 a game in his second full season. And his playoff averages are nuts too. MJ Averaged 30 for a CAREER. On 50% shooting.

I'm not about what you 'can' do. I'm about what you have done. And yes, KD 'could' have averaged 30 but why didn't he take more shots a LOT more shots if he's one of the most efficient to ever do so.

I think he's a debate between he and Lebron and it shouldn't be since Lebron was never known for just his scoring ability when you add in passing.

I'll still take MJ, Kareem and Wilt over KD for scoring. And I'd probably slot him in at 4th although maybe 5th with Lebron.

[TheGeneral99]

I don't think he's overrated as a scorer, he's undoubtedly a top 5 pure scorer of all-time.

He's a bit overrated as an overall player in terms of his impact as a leader, facilitator, rebounder, and defender, but he's still easily a top 15-20 player of all time.

The fact that he's 36 and still producing at an elite MVP level offensively, shooting 53%fg and 43%3fg is a testament to how incredible a scorer he is.

[Lunartic]

He has always played with high level scorers and thus, him jacking 25FGA a game would be idiotic.

He is a GOAT level scorer

[Ben-N1ce]

Notsureifserious

[tsherkin]

All these true, which is exactly WHY he should have averaged 30 for a CAREER. Not just once in his career.

Why?

Specific volume markers have no inherent value, and he's played alongside Westbrook and Harden and Kyrie and Booker, generally a pile of other quality scorers. It's not MJ rocking it with just Scottie and roleplayers, man.

This is a weird take.

[mdonnelly1989]

All these true, which is exactly WHY he should have averaged 30 for a CAREER. Not just once in his career.

Why?

Specific volume markers have no inherent value, and he's played alongside Westbrook and Harden and Kyrie and Booker, generally a pile of other quality scorers. It's not MJ rocking it with just Scottie and roleplayers, man.

This is a weird take.

But if he's the Goat then he should be taken a lot more shots. I just don't see a case for him as the greatest of all time at scoring.

[tsherkin]

But if he's the Goat then he should be taken a lot more shots. I just don't see a case for him as the greatest of all time at scoring.

I've literally never heard anyone call him the GOAT scorer, ever. I've seen comparisons to George Gervin and discussions that he's been the best scorer of his era, but nothing else.

Worth remembering that whatever your opinion of his scoring volume under 30, he has 4 scoring titles. Jordan, Wilt, Gervin and Iverson are the only other guys to do that, ever. The only guys to do it even three times were McAdoo, Mikan, Harden, Neil Johnston and Dr J (in the ABA).

So.... even volume-wise, he stands out pretty well, and that's before factoring in efficiency.

He stands up pretty well against anyone you really care to consider, leastwise in the RS.

[NZB2323]

I don't think he's overrated as a scorer, he's undoubtedly a top 5 pure scorer of all-time.

He's a bit overrated as an overall player in terms of his impact as a leader, facilitator, rebounder, and defender, but he's still easily a top 15-20 player of all time.

The fact that he's 36 and still producing at an elite MVP level offensively, shooting 53%fg and 43%3fg is a testament to how incredible a scorer he is.

He hasn’t been MVP level for a while. He’s played 65 or more game once since 2019. Last year he was 21st in PER, 68th in WS, 84th in WS/48, 29th in BPM, 30th in VORP, and his team failed to make the play-in. He’s also gone 6-13 in playoff games since 2021.

Given all the times he’s formed superteams and failed and how he had to join a 73 win team to win championship, I don’t think it’s crazy to leave him out of the top 20. I don’t think that a list like this is crazy:

1. Jordan
2. Lebron
3. Kareem
4. Russell
5. Magic
6. Wilt
7. Duncan
8. Bird
9. Hakeem
10. Kobe
11. Shaq
12. Curry
13. Jokic
14. Moses Malone
15. Dr. J
16. Jerry West
17. Oscar Robertson
18. Giannis
19. Dirk
20. KG
21. Durant

[Blame Rasho]

He is the best scorer of his generation. You are comparing him to all time greats so it is hard to grasp how he is overrated if you are doing that.

[Yank3525]

OP acting like averaging 30 for a career is easy lol. Only two guys in the history of the game has done that.

[Rdude22]

I don't think he's overrated as a scorer, he's undoubtedly a top 5 pure scorer of all-time.

He's a bit overrated as an overall player in terms of his impact as a leader, facilitator, rebounder, and defender, but he's still easily a top 15-20 player of all time.

The fact that he's 36 and still producing at an elite MVP level offensively, shooting 53%fg and 43%3fg is a testament to how incredible a scorer he is.

Yea, this is kinda where i lean towards. Everyone from Steve A Smith to NBA podcasters like Gilbert Arenas will call KD the greatest pure scorer ever. Which is fine, tho sometimes i feel callin someone the "best pure scorer" is one of those consolation terms like when Shaq called himself "the most dominant ever" because he knew he couldn't call himself "the best ever" or GOAT.

i.e. Technically Jordan avg more ppg than KD; LeBron has more career points than KD; Shaq, Jokic, Giannis (and most superstar bigs, naturally) shot higher field goal percentage; Steph shot higher percentage from 3; etc etc; and so, F-it, we'll just use a somewhat ambiguous term there's no stat for, like "pure" to give KD his flowers. I can dig it

[nate33]

This post doesn't factor that scoring was much lower during the peak of Durant's career. Nobody scored 30 back then. Look at his career and tell when he was overrated as a scorer. Basically, once he hit his third season, he led the league in scoring for 4 out of 5 seasons with elite efficiency. The one year he didn't lead in scoring, it was because Carmelo was chucking at a MUCH lower efficiency. He then had some foot injuries and dropped down to 2nd or 3rd ranked scorer in the league (but with top 2 efficiency).

Then he joined Golden State, and instead of forcing shots, he blended in with Steph and Klay. He continued to be among the top 7 in scoring, but did so with mind boggling efficiency, typically first (or second best to Curry) in the league among volume scorers.

Then he blew out his Achilles and came back as a slightly older and less athletic guy from age 32 onward. While sharing the court with Kyrie and Harden, he again posted insane efficiency on slightly lower scoring totals. And when he went back to being the main guy, he proceeded to finish in the top 4 in scoring at age 33 and then down around top 7 at age 35 and 36. And always among the highest efficiency volume scorers.

2008: 20.3 pts/g - .519 TS - Rookie season
2009: 25.3 pts/g - .577 TS - Second year. 6th in the league in scoring.
2010: 30.1 pts/g - .607 TS - Led the league in scoring. 3rd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%
2011: 27.7 pts/g - .589 TS - Led the league in scoring. 5th in TS% among guys with USG over 25%
2012: 28.0 pts/g - .610 TS - Led the league in scoring. 1st in TS% among guys with USG over 25%
2013: 28.1 pts/g - .647 TS - 2nd in scoring. 1st in TS% among guys with USG over 25%. Preposterous efficiency. (Carmelo's TS was .560 lol)
2014: 32.0 pts/g - .635 TS - Led the league in scoring. 2nd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%
2015: 25.0 pts/g - .633 TS - 3rd in the league in scoring. 2nd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%. Foot injuries. played only 27 games.
2016: 28.2 pts/g - .634 TS - 3rd in the league in scoring. 2nd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%
2017: 25.1 pts/g - .651 TS - 1st in TS% among guys with USG over 25%. Shared offense with Curry and Klay. NBA champ
2018: 26.4 pts/g - .640 TS - 2nd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%. Shared offense with Curry and Klay. NBA champ
2019: 26.0 pts/g - .631 TS - 3rd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%. Shared offense with Curry and Klay. Achilles tear playoffs
2020: Injured. Did not play.
2021: 26.9 pts/g - .666 TS - 1st in TS% among guys with USG over 25%. Shared offense with Kyrie and Harden. Coming back from Achilles injury
2022: 29.9 pts/g - .634 TS - 4th in scoring. 3rd in TS% among guys with USG over 25%
2023: 29.1 pts/g - .697 TS - age 34. Only played 8 games.
2024: 27.1 pts/g - .626 TS - age 35 7th in scoring
2025: 26.6 pts/g - .642 TS - age 36 7th in scoring

[Jaykoolzboy]

KD is one of the greatest scorer of all time , even an argument as the greatest scorer of all time. His height, wingspan, shooting form and touches makes him one of the the most unguardable player ever. I would only rank MJ clearly above him , thou u can definitely make an argument that he is more lethal than MJ under certain circumstances.

I ranked him borderline top 15 player of all time , his issue is

1. Clearly doesn't have the leadership as players such as MJ, LBJ ,Curry etc.

2. Besides goat level scoring ability, he isn't truly elite at anything else , a good rebounder for his size but not great, tried to have his teammates involved but u can clearly tell he doesn't have the vision nor the metit to be an elite facilitator similar to LeBron, not a great defender , but can be a good one if he s committed.

Even being non-elite at pretty much anything outside of scoring, he is still a top 15 player of all time (if he wins a chip for the rockets , ill rank him top 12), that pretty much recaps on how great of a scorer KD really is(top 5 at worst , arguably goat)

[JustBuzzin]

OP has become overrated as a poster.

Cmon man KD one of the most efficient scorers of all time lol

[DirtyDez]

The only aspect of the game KD isn’t overrated at is scoring.

[NyKnicks1714]

There's nothing you can say to overrate KD as a scorer. He's one of the best ever. There's a debate to be had with him and Jordan. Jordan has a 3.4 point per 100 edge on KD, but KD has averaged 5 fewer FGA per 100. His efficiency edge is at least as significant as Jordan's volume edge, even when you only consider their efficiency to the rest of the league during their respective eras.

Even now, at 36 in year 17, on the downswing of his career, his TS% was 6.6% higher than the league average. When Jordan was 34, his TS% was 1% higher than the league average at the time. Not saying KD was the better scorer, but it's close enough that frankly I don't see the point in debating it. They're both as good as it gets. There's no player in NBA history who you can definitively put above KD as a scorer.

[NyKnicks1714]

KD is one of the greatest scorer of all time , even an argument as the greatest scorer of all time. His height, wingspan, shooting form and touches makes him one of the the most unguardable player ever. I would only rank MJ clearly above him , thou u can definitely make an argument that he is more lethal than MJ under certain circumstances.

I ranked him borderline top 15 player of all time , his issue is

1. Clearly doesn't have the leadership as players such as MJ, LBJ ,Curry etc.

2. Besides goat level scoring ability, he isn't truly elite at anything else , a good rebounder for his size but not great, tried to have his teammates involved but u can clearly tell he doesn't have the vision nor the metit to be an elite facilitator similar to LeBron, not a great defender , but can be a good one if he s committed.

Even being non-elite at pretty much anything outside of scoring, he is still a top 15 player of all time (if he wins a chip for the rockets , ill rank him top 12), that pretty much recaps on how great of a scorer KD really is(top 5 at worst , arguably goat)

During his prime he was a very good defender, great in some years.

[Optms]

First Hakeem is overrated for his low post scoring and now KD is overrated with his scoring.

Some of you officially have no idea what you're talking about. Like at all.

[davidv2001]

First Hakeem is overrated for his low post scoring and now KD is overrated with his scoring.

Some of you officially have no idea what you're talking about. Like at all.

Facts. As a Rockets’ fan who grew up practicing the Dreamshake in his driveway and a 2005 University of Texas graduate who has followed Durant’s NBA career closely, it is insane people think they are overrated in these particular aspects of their games.

[bonita_the_frog]

KD will still be scoring 25ppg when he's 40-years-old, he's untouchable at his height with his shooting skill, even with his mid-career lull (in terms of team success) he may still win as many rings as MJ.
.527 field shooting, .430 three shooting last season, and probably even better at Houston...
Houston will be a dynasty, and KD will be their leading scorer for the next 5+ years!