Who is the best NBA Player in the world right now?

[Jabroni Lames]

.....Aaaand Lebron made it the Finals with Mo Williams, Matthew Dellavedova, Mozgov, Mike Brown and some Euro coach. You couldn't have picked a worse player to try and prove your point. lol. Wiley Coyote, anyone?

Lebron has been the top player in the world... even with scrub personnel and meh coaches & systems. Giannis hasn't.... yet.

Absolutely shocked that you not only missed the point, but your argument only works one way and not the other. Very objective of you.

It does work both ways, if Giannis was on the same level as Lebron. Giannis indeed had his "chance" to play with Delly and he couldn't get out of the first round until Lopez, Bud and his system came along.

[AwkwardBoogaloo]

is it objective to extrapolate full season stats based on someone who only plays 75% of the season? I don't think it is, I think that's called cherry picking. imagine if Giannis got to sit for 20+ games and be the freshest player on the floor when "winning matters and you have to be clutch"

LOL no my salty friend, I’m not cherry picking. In this thread I’ve provided several examples from both the regular season and the playoffs to prove my point. You, on the other hand, decided to cherry pick one small part of my argument... and then used that part of my argument to say Lebron and Kawhi are “lazy slackers” (horrible take). Then you tried to argue that I’m biased against Giannis even though Giannis is my fav player (another horrible take). Now you’re trying to say that I’m cherry picking regular season stats while ignoring all of the other points I’ve made (horrible take #3). I know I said I wasn’t gonna bother with you, but this quarantine got me bored and your ridiculous tunnel vision when it comes to Giannis is damn entertaining. Keep the hot takes coming, “GiannisAnte34”

you tried to say that Middleton, Bledsoe, Lopez was as good as Lowry, Siakam, Gasol. simply untrue, way more playoff experienced on the Raptors side (that's without even including the Kawhi/Giannis experience gap)

Wrong again, nice try but you’re reaching. All I said was those guys in the starting lineup with Giannis were no scrubs. In no way do I believe, nor did I imply, that they were as good as the Raptors supporting cast. But you can definitely make it look that way if you “cherry pick” one point out of a larger argument I was making

[skones]

.....Aaaand Lebron made it the Finals with Mo Williams, Matthew Dellavedova, Mozgov, Mike Brown and some Euro coach. You couldn't have picked a worse player to try and prove your point. lol. Wiley Coyote, anyone?

Lebron has been the top player in the world... even with scrub personnel and meh coaches & systems. Giannis hasn't.... yet.

Absolutely shocked that you not only missed the point, but your argument only works one way and not the other. Very objective of you.

It does work both ways, if Giannis was on the same level as Lebron. Giannis indeed had his "chance" to play with Delly and he couldn't get out of the first round until Lopez, Bud and his system came along.

Somebody's not even reading what they're writing.

[JN61]

It’s still LeBron to me.

Giannis has to prove he can get it done when it matters for me. Kawhi is close to LeBron, but when you get to rest significantly more than the competition, you’ve got a significant advantage.

But what has LeBron done since 2016? How many years of benefit of doubt are we going to give him?

What he has done since 2016?

Average 32 PPG in the playoffs in 2017 and 34 PPG in 2018 and they make the finals in his 2 years.Yes LeBron lose 2 finals but it was against a much better team that the cavs had and in 2020,the lakers were first in the west by 5-6 games.But yeah continue to focus only on 2019.

You do understand his logic was because Giannis has not won championship he can't be best player? Yet giving benefit of doubt to LeBron year after a year after a year.

[freethedevil]

I'm still skeptical of Giannis in the playoffs. I'll have to see it to believe it.

Guess you forget him nearly winning a title lmao. Where was this energy when Lebron got bounced in 08?

[freethedevil]

To everyone saying it’s ridiculous that Giannis isn’t an option... it actually makes sense he’s not on this list. What do the 3 guys listed in the poll have in common? Multiple championships and Finals MVPs

So a media award? How does that matter when one of said players isn't even the most valuable on his team?

[freethedevil]

Kevin Durant has probably the most complete game with no real weakness.

Aside from defense, playmaking, or you know anything other than scoring.

[RoyceDa59]

LeBron, Giannis, Kawhi and healthy KD.

Those are the big 4.


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[Run DLC]

Kevin Durant is the best player in the league and the greatest of all time.

[Catchall]

I'd say a healthy KD.

[SmashMouthRod]

Kevin Durant has probably the most complete game with no real weakness.

Aside from defense, playmaking, or you know anything other than scoring.

Kevin Durant is a good defender, passer/playmaker and shot-blocker. His years with the Warriors established that. Kevin has no weaknesses in his game. He isnt a transcendent passer or defender but they arent weaknesses either.

[SnoopDub]

As much as i hate to say this, but Lebron is still the best player in the world. Next would probably KD

[GiannisAnte34]

Kevin Durant is likely off of that top players tier... what player has come back from such an injury and maintained their MVP level greatness?

[freethedevil]

Kevin Durant has probably the most complete game with no real weakness.

Aside from defense, playmaking, or you know anything other than scoring.

Kevin Durant is a good defender, passer/playmaker and shot-blocker.

"Good"? That's suffecient for having the "most complete game"? Aren't we talkign about superstars here?

"Good KD" is far closer to harden defensively than he is to a Giannis or Embid by any sort of defensive impact stat. His effect on teammate effiency(the actual goal of playmaking)/box creation(you know, creating shots) is far closer to kawhi or kyrie than he is to a steph, a westbrook, or a Lebron.

And Lebron and Giannis are both also better at "defending"/"playmaking" respectively. And off course, for all the hype, when it comes to impact on winning, every single stastical estimation agrees kd has never, ever, in his life been the best player.

But I guess your eyetest(ie: only watching the ball) rebuts all that.

His years with the Warriors established that.

His years playing with


checks notes

-> A vastly superioir defender
-> A vastly superior creator
-> A Comprable scorer?

Go check his okc playoff effiency with +30 usage and get back to me on how he has "no weaknesses". Compare that to Lebron or Curry. We could do similar things for kawhi, giannis, jokic, but since scoring seems to be the only thing you look at, that should be a good starting point.

[Harry Garris]

For me KD surpassed him before Kawhi. Still, not including Giannis and make it seem like it's obvious that these 3 are the obvious choices was a bad look(for the record i have all of KD, kawhi, LeBron above Giannis on my list).
Poll results reflect this.

I think how poorly the Warriors performed whenever Curry was out despite the fact that KD was still playing with 2 other all stars makes it hard to evaluate him. Sure, he was the best performer on the Warriors during their 2 finals wins. But if the reason why he was so successful was because of the other top 3 player on his team making things easier for him, how much credit does KD get for that?

This is a team sport, teammates are supposed to make things easier for each other. KD came to a 73 win and made them better. That's not easy. KD as a leader can be questioned, but he is so good that he can be the best player even with those questions.

Replacing Harrison Barnes with any all star level wing would have made the Warriors better. That's not a case for KD being better than Lebron, Kawhi, or Giannis. I would argue that as good as the Warriors were with KD they would have been even better with Kawhi, as he was a better defender and less ball dominant which would have fit the Warriors system better than KD did.

[Pennebaker]

"There's a lot of people in the league with LeBron's body," Clippers' coach Doc Rivers said. "There's no one in the league with his brain."

That's last week from Kawhi's own coach.

The notion that there's anybody in the league that's on LeBron's level is misguided and ill-informed and everyone in the league knows it.

[Gooner]

I think how poorly the Warriors performed whenever Curry was out despite the fact that KD was still playing with 2 other all stars makes it hard to evaluate him. Sure, he was the best performer on the Warriors during their 2 finals wins. But if the reason why he was so successful was because of the other top 3 player on his team making things easier for him, how much credit does KD get for that?

This is a team sport, teammates are supposed to make things easier for each other. KD came to a 73 win and made them better. That's not easy. KD as a leader can be questioned, but he is so good that he can be the best player even with those questions.

Replacing Harrison Barnes with any all star level wing would have made the Warriors better. That's not a case for KD being better than Lebron, Kawhi, or Giannis. I would argue that as good as the Warriors were with KD they would have been even better with Kawhi, as he was a better defender and less ball dominant which would have fit the Warriors system better than KD did.

I don't think Kawhi is less ball dominant, I think he is more methodical, KD can pull up from anywhere, and he was a good fit for Warriors team speed. Replacing Harrison Barnes by all star makes them better on paper, but balance of the team is the key, and it can be disrupted if you add too much talent. KD can literally fit in on any team.

[Triples333]

This is a team sport, teammates are supposed to make things easier for each other. KD came to a 73 win and made them better. That's not easy. KD as a leader can be questioned, but he is so good that he can be the best player even with those questions.

Replacing Harrison Barnes with any all star level wing would have made the Warriors better. That's not a case for KD being better than Lebron, Kawhi, or Giannis. I would argue that as good as the Warriors were with KD they would have been even better with Kawhi, as he was a better defender and less ball dominant which would have fit the Warriors system better than KD did.

I don't think Kawhi is less ball dominant, I think he is more methodical, KD can pull up from anywhere, and he was a good fit for Warriors team speed. Replacing Harrison Barnes by all star makes them better on paper, but balance of the team is the key, and it can be disrupted if you add too much talent. KD can literally fit in on any team.

He fit amazingly as the 2nd most impactful player on the Warriors, and I do agree that he is the best player in the world who could have fit that role. Although Kawhi would have an argument. Lebron I don't think could have best fit that role. Ditto Giannis.

[Gooner]

Replacing Harrison Barnes with any all star level wing would have made the Warriors better. That's not a case for KD being better than Lebron, Kawhi, or Giannis. I would argue that as good as the Warriors were with KD they would have been even better with Kawhi, as he was a better defender and less ball dominant which would have fit the Warriors system better than KD did.

I don't think Kawhi is less ball dominant, I think he is more methodical, KD can pull up from anywhere, and he was a good fit for Warriors team speed. Replacing Harrison Barnes by all star makes them better on paper, but balance of the team is the key, and it can be disrupted if you add too much talent. KD can literally fit in on any team.

He fit amazingly as the 2nd most impactful player on the Warriors, and I do agree that he is the best player in the world who could have fit that role. Although Kawhi would have an argument. Lebron I don't think could have best fit that role. Ditto Giannis.

LeBron would change the philosophy of that team completely.

[Gooner]

Kevin Durant is likely off of that top players tier... what player has come back from such an injury and maintained their MVP level greatness?

Dominique Wilkins, but I'm skeptical about KD aswell. I think he will decline considerably, but he will still be a top 10 player even with that.