Within their first five years neither LeBron James nor Kevin
Durant had won an NBA championship. Nonetheless, both proved in that short
stretch that their ringless fingers could not hide one very obvious fact: they
would ascend the ladder of NBA greatness in their careers. While enjoying the entertainment
that both NBA superstars exhibit today, there is a very high likelihood that both will finish
their career in the heart of the discussion for greatest
NBA players of all time.
So how do the two best players
in the NBA compare? Quite frankly, as you will see in their statistics, they
are eerily similar. Here is a comparison of LeBron and Durant’s respective first
five years in the NBA, both of which started at age 19:
Coming into the league, LeBron James was hailed as the next
great thing. Gracing the cover of Sports
Illustrated as a high school basketball player, LeBron was expected to be
nothing short of the stature of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Conversely,
many analysts questioned Kevin Durant’s relevance as a professional player.
While LeBron had an NBA-ready body right out of high school, Durant’s physique
was much more questionable. Whispers of bust surrounded the dynamic scorer who
was 2007 College Player of the Year in his one year at Texas. Perhaps prophetic, in
their respective drafts, LeBron was No. 1 overall and Durant was No. 2.
As their high selection suggests, both landed in cities with
NBA teams desperately in need of a franchise player. At the time of James’ arrival,
the Cleveland Cavaliers had missed the playoffs for five consecutive years. Outside of LeBron, little hope was on the
horizon. In the Akron native’s rookie year in the league (2003-04), two of the
top five scorers on the team included Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ricky Davis.
Similarly, Kevin Durant came to the then-Seattle SuperSonics hoping to revive a
franchise that had lost Ray Allen. The SuperSonics had one playoff appearance
in the five years leading up to Durant’s rookie year.
In KD’s rookie year (2007-08), he scored about as many
points as the second and third leading scorers on the team combined. But unlike LeBron, Durant would get some help over the
next couple years as two more high draft picks, Russell Westbrook and James
Harden, contributed to a turnaround in what became the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise.
![]() |
Graph of Thunder and Cavaliers winning percentage. Rookie years of James and Durant indicated with red points. Cavs 10-year stretch is 99-08. Thunder is from 03-12. |
Although LeBron had significantly more success in his rookie year than Durant, neither LeBron’s Cavs nor Durant’s
Thunder made the playoffs for the first two years that both players
were in the league. However, there was immediate hope that there would
eventually be a turnaround. Both won NBA Rookie of the Year honors. Scoring
titles, All Star appearances, and a host of other accolades followed in their
first five years.
As if those trends don’t mirror each other enough, take a
look at the regular season numbers they put up in their first five years:
Per game statistics
|
LeBron James
|
Kevin Durant
|
Points
|
27.3
|
26.3
|
Rebounds
|
6.9
|
6.6
|
Assists
|
6.6
|
2.8
|
Steals
|
1.8
|
1.2
|
Blocks
|
0.8
|
1.0
|
FG percentage
|
.467
|
.468
|
FT percentage
|
.728
|
.878
|
Games played
|
390
|
380
|
The only significant differences are in assists (LeBron has
the edge) and free throw percentage (Durant has the edge)…everything else is nearly
identical. Going to advanced statistics helps differentiate a little bit more,
but one beats the other in categories you would expect them to (LeBron in PER,
Durant in eFG% and TS%). As a measure of the extraordinary beginning to their
careers, only 24 players have a career
PER above Durant’s 22.6. Eight had higher than LeBron’s PER (25.2).
Go to their playoff records and again, not much
difference. Neither won a championship—but to put it in perspective, Jordan was not a champion until his seventh year in the league. LeBron made it to the Finals
once and Conference finals twice. Durant has advanced one round deeper into the
playoffs each year starting his third year in the league. Both had their own
jaw-dropping playoff performances, as well. And like their regular season
numbers, playoff stats are remarkably similar:
Playoff per game statistics
|
LeBron James
|
Kevin Durant
|
Points
|
27.5
|
28.1
|
Rebounds
|
8.0
|
7.7
|
Assists
|
7.3
|
3.2
|
Steals
|
1.6
|
1.1
|
Blocks
|
0.8
|
1.2
|
FG percentage
|
.433
|
.465
|
FT percentage
|
.742
|
.854
|
Games played
|
46
|
43
|
But here, LeBron has the edge with a top-five playoff performance of all
time in his first five years in the league. So, with all of this in mind, who
was better? Stats and awards point to a wash but there are some unquantifiable
differences that help provide a marginal separation.
LeBron James was an athletic monster who proved he could get to the rim at will and was a gifted facilitator. Durant, on the other hand, was a pure shooter whose length creates tough offensive mismatches. Defensively,
LeBron was more polished than Durant even though the rebounding, steals, and blocks
suggest equality. For one, defensive rating and defensive win shares both favor
LeBron.
Durant is definitely the better pure shooter but LeBron’s
overall game gives him the slight edge. And strictly in terms of performance,
the then-Cavs star made more happen with less surrounding pieces. Kevin Durant
needed Westbrook and Harden to make the playoffs. LeBron, in his first year
making the playoffs had the help of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, Donyell
Marshall, and Larry Hughes. So even though the Western conference is more
competitive than the East, Durant had the luxury of playing with a host of other
scorers and defensively-minded players. Bottom line: if your franchise needs a
player and LeBron James and Kevin Durant are on the draft board, they would be
taken in the same order that they were on their respective draft days.
If you liked this
comparison, check out our series of comparisons that includes: Kobe vs. LeBron, LeBron vs. Jordan, Jordan vs. Kobe, and Kobe vs. Duncan.
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At this point, that comparison isn't quite as appropriate/relevant in terms of OVERALL ability but I just might do a comparison of them in terms of scoring. Here's something that I wrote that is along those lines: http://bit.ly/durantvsjordan
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