Los Angeles Lakers: Examining Kevin Durant’s quotes about LeBron James
Kevin Durant popped off about LeBron James earlier in the week in an interview with Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. Let’s take a look at a few of Durant’s comments and judge them on a scale from 1-10, with one being slightly stupid and ten being something totally incomprehensible.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James found himself in the news this week once again. However, it was not for his play on the court. Instead, it was because of Golden State Warriors’ forward, Kevin Durant.
Durant had some choice words during his interview with Ric Bucher. Let’s check some of them out.
"1. “If you’re a younger player like a Kawhi, trying to pair him with LeBron James doesn’t really make sense. Kawhi enjoys having the ball in his hands, controlling the offense, dictating the tempo with his post-ups; it’s how he plays the game. A lot of young players are developing that skill. They don’t need another guy.”"
Durant is saying that young All-Stars shouldn’t play with LeBron, because LeBron controls the ball and they won’t be able to get their hands on the rock.
First of all, Brandon Ingram, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lance Stephenson are averaging 26 shots per game between the three of them. Kawhi Leonard, please come to the Lakers, you can have all three of those guy’s shots.
Trust me, if LeBron is letting Ingram jack up more than ten long 2-pointers a game, he won’t mind you taking any shot you want.
Secondly, do young All-Stars really have to change their game because of LeBron? Let’s look at Kyrie Irving’s stats:
2013-2014 (Pre-LeBron) 20.8 PPG, 17.4 FGA, 4.8 3PA, 6.1 APG, All-Star
2014-2015 (After-LeBron) 21.3 PPG, 16.9 FGA, 4.9 3PA, 5.6 APG, All-Star
What about Dwayne Wade’s stats?
2009-2010 (Pre-LeBron) 26.6 PPG, 19.6 FGA, 3.2 3PA, 6.5 APG, All-Star
2010-2011 (After-LeBron) 25.5 PPG, 18.2 FGA, 2.7 3PA, 4.6 APG, All-Star
Did either player change after LeBron came to their teams? No, their stats are almost exactly the same pre-LeBron and post-LeBron. Why would Kawhi have to change if he came to the Lakers? He’s just as big a star as Kyrie and Dwayne. He wouldn’t have to alter his game at all.
I give this Durant quote an 8 on a scale from 1-10.