Will Durant ever be the best in the league?

[noob cake]

Probably not. LeBron James will beast for another few years, then he runs into falling behind one of the 3:

Anthony Davis
Kyrie Irving
Andrew Wiggins

[Bigsmoke]

He would be the worst best player ever

[SilkkTheShocker]

No. The guy will never be the best player in the league. He will
Get passed over like he has his whole life. And the of OKC winning titles in the future is a joke. They are a cheap franchise that trade Harden for pennies on the dollar. And this year they got even worse.

[Marchesk]

No. The guy will never be the best player in the league. He will
Get passed over like he has his whole life. And the of OKC winning titles in the future is a joke. They are a cheap franchise that trade Harden for pennies on the dollar. And this year they got even worse.

They won 60 games last season without Harden. Westbrook goes down and then all of a sudden everyone thinks the Thunder are pretenders. They had the best record in the tough West. Memphis doesn't beat them if Westbrook plays.

The Thunder are following the Spurs model, which works well for SA. They're going to draft guys and develop them.

Westbrook, Durant and Ibaka have improved every year. They just need decent support from the rest of the team and they're ready to contend for a third year in a row.

[plowking]

food

[SilkkTheShocker]

They won 60 games last season without Harden. Westbrook goes down and then all of a sudden everyone thinks the Thunder are pretenders. They had the best record in the tough West. Memphis doesn't beat them if Westbrook plays.

The Thunder are following the Spurs model, which works well for SA. They're going to draft guys and develop them.

Westbrook, Durant and Ibaka have improved every year. They just need decent support from the rest of the team and they're ready to contend for a third year in a row.

I just don't they have a 3rd piece. Ibaka is more of a 4th option imo. And their coaching and bench are pretty poor. Having the 2nd best player in the league and arguably the best PG will make them a Final contender every year. But their team needs work. And as for Durant being the best player one day. I just don't see it. I honestly believe by the time LeBron is regressing from his prime, guys like Wiggins and Anthony Davis will be there to step up.

[SilkkTheShocker]

Probably not. LeBron James will beast for another few years, then he runs into falling behind one of the 3:

Anthony Davis
Kyrie Irving
Andrew Wiggins

Forgot about Irving also. Love his game. Will be interesting to see how the Cavs core comes around.

Irving
Waiters/Karasev
Bennett
Thompson
Bynum

[KG215]

I like Kyrie, but he won't be better than Durant any time soon. It'll have to be when Durant (like LeBron in this hypothetical) is in his early to mid 30s and Kyrie is in his mid to late 20s.

Davis and Wiggins might be possible, but again (and I know I've said this a lot), that would mean they are really, REALLY damn good in the next 2-3 years. Durant's not too far behind 24-25 year old LeBron, so in order for Wiggins to be "better" than Durant, he'd have to come in the league and be as good as 25-26 year old LeBron as a 20-21 year old. Not saying the gap won't be thin after Wiggins has been in the league for a few years, but I don't think he's going to be better than Durant his first 3-5 years in the league or anything.

With Davis, we'll see, but he wouldn't surprise me. I have a big man bias so if he gets stronger, and he becomes a 22-11-2 player with elite defense, I could admit he's better than Durant.

[Marchesk]

I honestly believe by the time LeBron is regressing from his prime, guys like Wiggins and Anthony Davis will be there to step up.

Wiggins hasn't played college ball yet, so I don't know why people have any ground to think he's going to end up better than the 2nd best player in the league right now.

We'll see whether Davis turns out to be better than Howard.

Durant is the 2nd best player at 24. He just put up Bird-like numbers last season. I'll agree with you that OKC needs a third option.

[KG215]

Wiggins hasn't played college ball yet, so I don't know why people have any ground to think he's going to end up better than the 2nd best player in the league right now.

We'll see whether Davis turns out to be better than Howard.

Durant is the 2nd best player at 24. He just put up Bird-like numbers last season. I'll agree with you that OKC needs a third option.

I mean even if Wiggins mostly lives up to the hype, I don't think people realize just how damn good he's have to be by the time he's 21-23 to be better than 27-29 year old Durant because that's when Durant will probably be peaking.

I know Silk is just a troll, but I'm not sure others really understand just how good Durant already is and he might still be 2-3 years away from reaching his absolute (1-year) peak.

[juju151111]

Why are people acting like LJ is far superior to KD. LJ is better, but it's not some crazy unreachable distance.

[riseagainst]

isn't he the best in the league currently?
[COLOR="White"]lol[/COLOR]

[iTare]

Bump

[SilkkTheShocker]

Why are people acting like LJ is far superior to KD. LJ is better, but it's not some crazy unreachable distance.

Don't fool yourself, he is.

[Eric Cartman]

Why are people acting like LJ is far superior to KD. LJ is better, but it's not some crazy unreachable distance.

It is though. For reference look at their Finals matchup.