How Athletic Is Kevin Durant?

[jpengland]

It goes back to definition of athleticism.

He's 7 foot and moves like an above average 6'6 NBA player.

Essentially, if a guy can get his body efficiently to the spots that he needs, that's athleticism in the context of basketball. Durant consistently gets his body into unstoppable positions including increasingly on defense.

He's very, very athletic.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Not so much because of the injury and all.

[Pablo Escobar]

He's a 7 foot guard, usually you lose the guard skills or your movements become more robotic, but his movements have remained fluid. An amazing player to watch and we'll never see another one like him.

[LeeBlaze]

Compared to other near 7 footers considering how fluid he is and his ball handling, I’d say the only player who surpasses him is Giannis.

You’d be hard pressed to find any others near 7 footers in NBA history who are more athletic than Durant. Simply put the guy is a freak. A guy that tall, that lanky shouldn’t be able to move like that.

Agility wise I agree. But overall athleticism Im not sure. Is KD a better athlete than say Marvin Bagley? Bagley is faster, quicker and much more explosive.

Again I think agility wise (he moves like a guard) he is pretty freakish, but his skillset is the most freakish thing about him. KD is pretty much if you took an average athletic 2 guard that had elite skills, then just morphed his body to be 7 feet. So pretty much Khris Middleton of this year just 7 feet tall. That is freakish.

KD has like 3 inches on Bagley though. Bagley is a lot closer to Lebron size than KD

Not according to the NBA (https://www.nba.com/players/marvin/bagley_iii/1628963)

[Lalouie]

he's "athletic" enough.

i think everything he does is "skilled"-based, so i'd say he's a "basketball athlete". a basketball athlete is athletic enough for the game he plays. most nba players are that way. in other words if you were to answer the question "who are the best "athletes" in basketball most people would come up with 2 or 3 or 4 dozen, which means the other 400 are "basketball athletes.

he's a basketball athlete who is 6'11 and what he does as a 6'11 player makes you think he's more athletic than he really is.

[Pennebaker]

I don't know what he's going to look like after the achilles, but peak KD pre-injury was athletic enough to where I would say he was very athletic. Quicker, faster, jumps higher than you thought he might or should. Underrated as an athlete.

That being said, he wasn't going to win any athletic challenges against the most athletic players, but for his height and his reputation as a skinny shooter he had true athletic ability, in my opinion.

[michaelm]

He was more than sufficiently athletic as has been said.

[pr0wler]

7' tall version of Khris Middleton.

[Sign5]

I'd say only the Greek freak, KG, and Wilt were clearly more agile/athletic for similar build 7ft+) than KD ever. It's partly what made him so dominant as an all around scorer.

[sixerguy]

How you define athletic? Dude has a concave chest and can't bench 185

https://hoopshype.com/2017/05/11/kevin-durant-nba-combine-bench-press-poor-performance/

[Cavsfansince84]

I'd say only the Greek freak, KG, and Wilt were clearly more agile/athletic for similar build 7ft+) than KD ever. It's partly what made him so dominant as an all around scorer.

No way at all I agree with that comment. Not that I think you're crazy for saying it but I think there's probably 10 guys who I'd mention there and wasn't KD just measured at 6-10 before this season? So I don't know why so many people in this thread insist on calling him 7 ft+. He's 6-10. To get back to point though guys like Robinson, Hakeem, Russell and others were all significantly more athletic imo. I wouldn't put KD in tier 1 in athleticism among players 6-10 or taller.

[Run DLC]

He can put 30 PPG in his sleep. He can ball. He’s the greatest of all time.

[Woodsanity]

Very. I consider height and wingspan an aspect of athleticism. Plus not many 7 footers have his level of agility. Most lose their mobility.

[Pelly24]

Like, to me KD is clearly more athletic than Paul George. Paul George has a good lateral quickness, is strong and can get around screens and he can do crazy dunks, but he's so slow off the dribble he can't get by anyone (which has always limited him as a scorer)

[bigbreakfast]

merriam webster defines athelticism as:
"athletic ability : the combination of qualities (such as speed, strength, and agility) that are characteristic of an athlete"

seeing how the definition of athleticism literally includes agility, I would say KD's incredible agility at his size fits the textbook definition of athleticism. RealGM and the casual fans have an obsession w/ certain types of athleticism or athletic traits like strength and jumping and ignore the other, but just as important (if not more important as it relates to basketball), aspects of athleticism.

[Sign5]

I'd say only the Greek freak, KG, and Wilt were clearly more agile/athletic for similar build 7ft+) than KD ever. It's partly what made him so dominant as an all around scorer.

No way at all I agree with that comment. Not that I think you're crazy for saying it but I think there's probably 10 guys who I'd mention there and wasn't KD just measured at 6-10 before this season? So I don't know why so many people in this thread insist on calling him 7 ft+. He's 6-10. To get back to point though guys like Robinson, Hakeem, Russell and others were all significantly more athletic imo. I wouldn't put KD in tier 1 in athleticism among players 6-10 or taller.

Without shoes. Durant is a legit 7ft with shoes, just like zion is 6'7 with shoes. None of those guys are 7ft besides D-Rob (who was for sure more athletic than Durant). Most of those guys were 6'9-6'10 (you could put Dwight, kemp etc in that list). Either way, whether its 3 guys above him or 5, Durant is an elite athlete at his height.

[Ice Trae]

I consider him very athletic. 6'10 yet has the agility of a guard. That's pretty damn rare

[DavidDunn21]

Compared to other near 7 footers considering how fluid he is and his ball handling, I’d say the only player who surpasses him is Giannis.

You’d be hard pressed to find any others near 7 footers in NBA history who are more athletic than Durant. Simply put the guy is a freak. A guy that tall, that lanky shouldn’t be able to move like that.

Agility wise I agree. But overall athleticism Im not sure. Is KD a better athlete than say Marvin Bagley? Bagley is faster, quicker and much more explosive.

Again I think agility wise (he moves like a guard) he is pretty freakish, but his skillset is the most freakish thing about him. KD is pretty much if you took an average athletic 2 guard that had elite skills, then just morphed his body to be 7 feet. So pretty much Khris Middleton of this year just 7 feet tall. That is freakish.

Khris Middleton is a below average athlete who can barely dunk at 6'7ish and has the functional basketball athleticism of Reggie Miller at best, but I agree with your general point. The Gervin comparisons have been around for a long time also with KD

[Black Jack]

Like, to me KD is clearly more athletic than Paul George. Paul George has a good lateral quickness, is strong and can get around screens and he can do crazy dunks, but he's so slow off the dribble he can't get by anyone (which has always limited him as a scorer)

so slow on the dribble = bad athleticism? seems like it's a skill issue. Durant is one of the GOAT scorers, PG13 is not.

[DrCoach]

He’s a 7ft SG

Name another player in NBA history that can make that claim