37 years old Kevin Durant has played 2085 minutes this season - 3rd in NBA
He is doing it while averaging 26.3 ppg on 51-40-89 splits.
Missed only 3 games.
1st in NBA is Tyrese Maxey, and 2nd is Amen Thompson.
Also KD will turn 38 in Spetember.
Ironman KD at 37 years old was not expected. Playing at such a high level too. 24 (and counting) 30+ pts games this season.
His frame is functional, with no overdeveloped muscles that aren’t useful for his game. There’s no need to lift that many weights; he’s preserving his joints, ligaments, and muscle elasticity to continue playing at a high level. More NBA players should follow KD’s approach.
Also helps hes 7 foot w a 7’6 wingspan with natural athletic abilities and all tiem great shooting. Its not all just training and he lifts weights lol. Im sure many other players are following the same blueprint but hes no some innovator lmfao
It’s not like he returned to form after tearing his Achilles or anything
He has put up very good numbers since tearing his Achilles but his driving suffered noticeably.
It’s less of a big deal for him since he’s one of the 3 greatest mid range scorers ever but that’s not something everyone who tears their Achilles is going to have in their bag.
He’s also older now though? I’m sure the injury contributed but you’d expect someone to driving less in their mid 30s compared to when they were younger
His attempts at the rim halved after his injury, it’s not just old age.
He just got much better at shooting every where else.
Which is absolutely incredible because he was already one of the greatest shooters in NBA history before.
He’s shooting 80% at the rim, 59% for short jumpers, 53% for his long 2s this season…..that’s absolutely mental
I mean Im sure that was part of it but it was a pretty immediate drop off after he came back from the injury.
Yea I feel like nobody ever talks about warriors KD ability to no only score from all 3 but had an immediate bucket on a 1on1 drive to the basket. The contact dunks were wayyy more than now
Not hating but hes lucky he got it in his non dominant leg unlike nost tears
Why aren’t more players like KD? Are they stupid?
I mean, he’s also Kevin Durant so that helps.
Allegedly.
I am allegedly Kevin Durant.
More players should be Kevin Durant
I think KD is just naturally skinny. He was kinda strong in the late 2010s when attacking the rim
reminds me of reggie miller. averaged 30+ minutes per game on his last 4 seasons (ages 36-39) on around 75 games per year
His self-proclaimed “The Servant” nickname is actually coming true.
all while handling burner accounts. He’s a certified ball lover
Who amongst us doesn’t love balls?
Achilles injuries pre KD were considered career death sentences. Insane recovery
Is it? It essentially took him 4 years to get back to being an everyday player. He played just 137 games in the 3 seasons after 2019-20 (which he missed in its entirety).
Check out what he did in the 7 games v MIL in 2021.
42.7 MPG… 35.4 PPG…10.4 TRB…5.6 AST…1.6 STL…1.1 BLK. (All team highs.)
And all the while being hacked constantly by PJ Tucker, Portis, Giannis. (Got into scuffle with Tucker in Game 3).
One big toe on the 3-line away from beating the would-be champion Bucks.
He hurt his hamstring in 20-21; Bruce Brown crashed into his knee, then Jimmy Butler. In PHO he slipped on a wet spot warming up.
Nothing to do with the Achilles.
The hammy is pretty related. Half the issue with a long term injury is the time off and reconditioning from lack of lower body exercise.
You see it often in guys coming back after achillies injuries they suddenly become much more injury prone to everything else.
Everyone becomes more injury prone in their 30’s.
Hamstring injuries are very common even among NBA players with good Achilles, so there is no way to prove relatedness.
I’m a former squash pro, so I have seen and heard too many Achilles snap on court. Amanda Sobhy just won another tournament at 32, climbing back into the top 10.
She tore one at 25 and the other at 30. Glute-ham is heavily at risk- it’s called “squash butt”. Hers are fine.
Yeah dude had like two straight years of a team mate crashing RIGHT into his knee, just horrible luck lmao
He had other injuries, and also one season was 72 games. Compared to other stars in those seasons, he did alright
His injuries those years had nothing to do with his Achilles
He def started the trend of new rehab tech that showed modern athletes can play longer with such a devastating injury. Many have now come back from Achilles and have atleast not been useless like previous players
That’s both super impressive and concerning that he has to play so much. The crazy thing is that KD’s defense has been super impressive too. This has honestly been KD’sbest defensive season since forever
He should really be all-D. Always been underrated but yes, this may be his best year.
Imo 2017 was his best stretch, the KD Iggy Draymond Klay defence was one of the best 4 man lineups we’ve ever seen on that side of the ball
He was incredible on D in Brooklyn too
He was also awesome on defense for a lot of his suns tenure until he checked out when he realized the team was going nowhere.
Our defense was bad because the team was pretty poorly constructed but he was by far our best defender.
If KD can bring his free throw percentage up, would he be the oldest player to hit the 50/40/90 club?
I think if he makes 48 of his next 50 he would get to 90%.
He has made 58 of his last 60.
What the FK
Nash did it at 36 (end of season) averaging 16.5 PPG.
Durant did it at 34 averaging 29.1 PPG.
Easier to be selective taking fewer shots. (Nash led NBA with 11.0 assists that year.)
what the fuck
KD is one of the few guys who actually likes basketball lmao
Yeah I mean shit he just does the same thing we do on his off days lol. Can’t think of many players today that live and breathe ball like he does
No bitches, all ball
It’s very impressive but Ime is running him into the ground
Dude we’ve been plagued with injuries. There is no one else in the rotation
Hilarious how these cap rules low key fuck us and each time it has something to do with KD.
Casuals tried to lump him into Kawhi and AD tier of being injury prone lol
A little concerning that #2 and #3 are on the same team, is it not?
Man, it’s insane he’s been able to play so many minutes at that age.
For reference, KD’s 2085 minutes are more than LeBron played in his entire age 36, 37, or 38 seasons. He played 2400-2500 minutes at age 39 and 40, but that was over a full season. KD’s on pace for around 2850 this season.
When even the ultimate Ironman LeBron is lagging way behind, you know it’s crazy impressive.
It also makes you wonder if something could happen close to the end of the season or in the playoffs. Like, I don’t know if we’ve seen this sort of volume from someone KD’s age, especially given his injury history.
Why would you even say that into existence… KD is literally all we have lol
Sorry bro, wolves need that 3 seed
Requesting that you kindly keep those thoughts to yourself instead of putting that energy out into the world next time 😮💨
If we lose KD too i’m going to just walk into the ocean
My fellow Nets fans assured me that “He can’t stay healthy.”
3 of his worst injuries were MCL sprains when solid guys rolled up into him under the defensive hoop- 2 teammates, Zaza and Bruce Brown…and Jimmy Butler. He knows how to play easy minutes and is light on his feet.
The NFL now protects passers from low tackles, because it was so easy to cripple a star QB with a legal hit- Joe Namath’s career was cut short, e.g.
But the NBA won’t protect tall men from Lu Dort. He went for Jokic’s left knee, and he has tried to chop down Wemby and KD.
With Ja Morant he used an undercut.
OKC will probably face DEN, SAS, and/or HOU best-of-7 this year. Dort needs to be banned.
Would the game be meaningfully harmed if deliberately going horizintal simply resulted in an immediate technical foul? Like what’s the ratio of “exciting diving hustle plays” to “cutting off superstar’s knees”?
Clyde Frazier (7x all-D) says diving for loose balls should be banned.
In his era it if you slid at all on the floor with possession it was automatic travelling- even a few inches.
Honestly he should be above Brown in MVP talks and there’s no good reason why he’s not
KD is one of my childhood idol and i’m happy to see him playing healthy on the highest level until now. My future HoF, bless up KD!
Future HoF. He’ll play into his 40s so long as his legs hold strong. He’s one of the first superstars I got to watch throughout his entire career so far
Future HoF.
What a bold take there
I’ll die on this hill!
Probably gets in based on just his Olympic resume
You could probably make a compelling argument for 3 Hall of Fame runs between Team USA, OKC, and Golden State. First two are obvious, and then Golden State you’re just arguing if 3 straight years at the top of the game is long enough.
You think he’ll do better than Lebron?
With this type of form, he still has a shot surpassing Kareem in points
Getoffhisdickerson
I think he likes playing ball
All NBA 1st team honestly
Minimum he is a 2nd team player
I was seeing who had the oldest All NBA 1st team..Kareem got one at age 38. We don’t talk about his longevity enough.
Kareem also stayed slim and knew how to pace himself. He didn’t bother to leave the backcourt on Magic’s fast breaks…and he saved the rebounding for crunch time. He had strong PF’s always- even Magic was almost his weight. McAdoo was underrated…
Kareem’s bread and butter shot took him five feet away from his defender. Doesn’t get much lower impact than that.
At 38, Kareem had Worthy, AC Green, Kupchak, and Maurice Lucas- all 6’9” and solid. Rambis 6’8”.
Cooper 6’7” 8X all-D. And Magic. They lost to the Twin Towers… who lost to Bird, McHale, Parish and Walton…and DJ 9X all-D.
I know Warriors fans wanna cope and use the 22 title but they would have been sooo better off if they found a way to keep KD and ship Draymond off. It didnt help that the front office made very awkward comments about KD’s contract in the 2018 parade.
his game ages like wine. being a master of the mid range/ jump shot means less falls.
still impressive what him and lebron can do in their late 30s/early 40s. who knows how much curry has left, but it isn’t as promising
KD plays ball all the time. He has conditioned his body to play basketball. As someone who understands strength and conditioning. It frustrates me how the NBA has over indexed so much on rest, that now NBA players suffer more injuries because their bodies are not conditioned to play the game. Rest is important but it has to be balanced with conditioning. A person will never bench press 300 pounds or run a 6 minute mile if they never train, and just think they will get stronger and faster by resting 5 days a week.
Get fit to play basketball vs play basketball to get fit
This is not a good thing, and having Amen there is also not a good thing. KD is being played too many mpg, which is probably because of roster depth issues
Surprised Maxey is 1st! I thought he was out for an injury for a bit? Or maybe that was last year
Yeah that was last year. We’ve been running Maxey into the ground
And playing decent defense. Take that LeBron!
We were robbed so many good years of KD due to injury.
He was an iron man and just won the mvp before suffering a jones fracture and then torn his Achilles at the age of 30.
He would’ve been closing in on Kareem by now
Haven’t been able to watch much basketball lately, is there a reason he’s not being considered for MVP? I see Cade but he can’t be having that much of a better season to where there isn’t at least an argument.
Holy shit! Love KD
hey, it’s 2085 and we’re old as shit
They puttin him to work lmao
I’m 42 yeas old and haven’t missed a day of work besides vacations in over 2 yeas. Big f-ing deal.
That’s cause you can’t afford to
That’s quite the assumption
Vacations? I haven’t missed a day of work for anything in over 15 years. Big f-ing deal.
I’m sorry you don’t get To enjoy some Parts of life
This is what it sounds like when you “brag” about your work attendance. In all honesty, I have unlimited PTO, take at least six weeks off per year, and take off as much time as I can.
What kinda idiot doesn’t capitalize on unlimited PTO? All this “free” time off you are Missing out on. Or you are full of shit
We used to live in a shoebox in the middle of the road.