37 year old Kevin Durant is 2nd in the entire NBA in minutes played this season (2763) and has played his most games since his Achilles injury at 76
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-minutes-played-this-season-nba
Losing the “injury prone” tag at age 35+ is crazy work lol
His first few years after coming back it looked like he was going to be extremely fragile the rest of his career but over the last 3 years he’s played 213 games which is comparable to guys like Jokic and SGA
It does bode well for his chances of ascending the all-time scoring list I think he’ll manage to pass Malone for 3rd at this point which I wouldn’t have said 3 years ago
2021 KD was a nightmare when he was healthy, his body is testament to modern medicines efficacy.
He definitely lost some burst on his drives. His shooting is so good it doesn’t really matter though. Even with our trash movement he can get that elbow jumper any time he wants.
without your trash movement he would’ve tripped over all the trash
It’s just as much a testament to himself and the work he puts in
If he had smaller shoes, Brooklyn would have win the Championship in 2021
It really puts into perspective how inevitable 40k points was for him pre injury. He still might but he would have to play into his 40s which he might just not.
He was projected to end up #1 as early as 2011
Yeah like KD was on track to eventually pass LeBron, and people forget that. He has missed 200 odd games after in achillies and could STILL break 40k points.
KD started early and was insanely consistent with his scoring, and aged incredibly well.
He wasn’t really on track to pass LeBron and as soon as he got injured in 2014-15 it was over for him. Even after his 4 scoring titles in 5 years he was behind like 400 points compared to Lebron’s first 7 seasons.
He had 22940 points pre-injury. He would have had to average ~1900 points per season until 2027-28 to break the 40k.
Are you making a point here or just doing the math that has already been done?
I’m pointing out how it was obviously not inevitable like you claim.
1900⁄75-25.3ppg
1900⁄70=27.1ppg
It was inevitable he missed roughly 200 games due to injuries after the achillies, so roughly 5000 points give or take a few hundred due to missed games or increased scoring seasons.
he’s on pace this season to score over 2k points.
Durant only averaged 70 games before the achilles injury. Completely unreasonable to expect an aging star to keep being insanely durable. Even LeBron didn’t manage that.
It’s also completely unreasonable to expect consistent 27 ppg seasons for 11 straight seasons after the age of 30.
And that doesn’t even mention how the injuries post achilles recovery were freak accidents not achilles related.
Be serious for a minute.
You are looking at this from our point of view seeing the incredible longevity from Steph KD and LeBron but back then nobody thought they would be able to play this well this late into their 30s. Every projection of their late career scoring outputs was like 20-24 ppg by the time they were 36.
It’s like you’re talking completely unaware of what KD has actually averaged post injury. 3 29ppg seasons, 1 27 ppg season 2 26 ppg season, and 1 25.8 ppg season(current season where he will break 2k points)
So no It’s not unreasonable because he has literally done it and then some.
edit: Nice edit, I’m not playing edit wars with someone who is this poorly informed.
Where am I even arguing that KD is incapable of averaging that many points? I’m saying it was unreasonable for him to average that many points while playing 70+ games for 11 straight years. That’s the entire point.
So no It’s no unreasonable because he has literally done it and then some.
He literally hasn’t.
The irony.
2 am Reddit comment but maybe in a very very long winded way the Achilles tear was a good thing. He got like 400-500 days off nba hoops with rona.
All his injuries in recent memory have been mostly contact.
the Achilles tear was a good thing
See what you’re saying, but absolutely not. I can only assume you haven’t torn an Achilles. It’s never the preferred outcome for any athlete, even in hindsight
His legs and lower body were still suspect with tacky injuries just like lebron and steph these guys got a fuck ton of mileage
As long as his body holds up he’s going to be playing ball well into his 40’s. His entire life is ball, and he’s got nothing else going on. I still think he tops 40k points.
There were multiple seasons where KD missed 20-30 games because players kept accidentally falling into his legs and injuring him. 2014 and 2019 were the only seasons where he suffered very serious injuries, and looked injury prone.
He’s like the anti Embiid in terms of the way his body moves
His career is so underrated considering how good he actually is
Amen Thompson is first in minutes and Jabari Smith is 4th. Lmao our bench is so bad.
Yeah it’s more of an indictment than an achievement. Wtf is going on with the Rockets team building?
Huh they are missing FVV and Adam’s ?
Yeah but FVV got hurt during the middle of the offseason.
The front office had time to go and do SOMETHING
so insane they did genuinely nothing in a contending year with a limited window
We’re currently 50-29 without our starting PG all season and Adams for half the season. I wonder what our record would be if both had been available.
i think about this often
57-22 and far less moments of sheer embarrassment is my guess
And not having a narrative around the team that were a fraud playoff team lol.
i feel bad for steady freddy :(
and the fans of course
Those aren’t two all-stars exactly…
A lot of teams lost this level of players (and much worse) during the season, and you don’t see them starring in the top 5 minutes played charts, including geriatric ass players like KD
That’s true, DFS was the guy supposed to improve our bench depth and right now he is getting DNPs because he is genuinely so bad in a way the FO couldn’t predict.
Also, there was Ime reluctance to start Reed for like 80% of the season. Amen was playing point guard, and even KD at one point increasing their respective numbers of minutes.
The front office should have gone for a point guard before the deadline, but they did nothing and abandoned the season. Now they’ve woken up and signed JD Davidson for the bench, so we’ll see.
They lost two players for the year, their MLE guy is unplayable, just unfortunate really.
Yeah it’s confusing. Even without the benefit of hindsight, signing Dorian Finney-Smith seems redundant when we have better versions of him in Amen Thompson and Tari Eason.
We need forward depth - if we got last years version of DFS no one would be complaining lol
Heavy dependence on top players (starters) due to both swings and misses on signings and acquisitions and a coach allergic to playing anyone off the bench who might make his defensive stats go down
Not obtaining a point guard replacement when FVV went out is just plain malpractice
Whic is wild because the story for y’all in the off season was questioning why y’all had such redundancy in the roster. Injuries suck
He’s made $600M from the league alone - he’s single too which I like
No kids, no wife, love of the game to the next level
$600M is attractive - at least for me
That might’ve been kd cat calling you not those domino workers lol
KD not gonna let you hit lil bro
Never said he would - but who knows what might happen
Leave out some burner phones and cupcakes and he might visit you
Hell prob get fleeced by some chick when hes 45 and bored and get half his money stolen lol
This is why men shouldn’t get married.
Or marry someone rich as well if you are rich
nice. selective socioeconomic breeding.
He don’t want someone that spends all their time complaining in fast food subreddits lmfao
I don’t know, I think complaining might be his love language.
You go girl get that bag lmao!
Have options - I’ll be fine
The domino’s workers?
More than that
I respect the fishing for sugar daddy game, but this might not be the best fishing spot
This is account is so weird
That’s all women care about these days, money.
I almost wish Bron would retire so people would start talking about how insane KD’s longevity is
I feel like Steph and KD’s longevity get underrated because everyone only talks about LeBrons
Agreed, Steph too
Steph too, but KD is even a bit more impressive. A few more games played and reached elite level about 4 seasons prior, despite curry being a few months older.
KD was second in mvp voting in his third season, he was so good from the start
Shit throw in James Harden too. I legit thought he was washed in Philly lol
Longevity will soon be much more common now than ever before due to obvious reasons. Still need to take care of your body but conditions and modern medicine really help.
Idk, I don’t think so.
Why don’t you think so?
Because I’ve seen this take for years, and I don’t think this take account how new players are ticking bombs because they are played too much basketball on lower levels.
This take don’t account how guys like KD won the genetic lottery and how his drive for basketball is insane.
This take also don’t take account the miles players put on their bodies when they are 33-34 years old, the increase pace in the NBA.
In terms on insane longevity tier, Bron/KD/Steph are huge exceptions and I feel like they will be outliers.
Harden is also just behind.
Of course science will help for recovery and shit, but I doubt we’re going to see players like this on the regular.
Never underestimate the power of loneliness and spite.
I bet you know a lot about that lol
Nothing gets by you
What an ironman. With 3 games remaining, he is likely to take the mantle of 5th Most Minutes played in a seaon at age 37+, behind Karl Malone x3 (37-39 years of age) and MJ at 39 years of age.
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=most+minutes+played+in+a+season+limited+to+those+age+37%2B
Wizards MJ might have been washed for his insanely high standards but fuck me 37mpg for a full 82⁄82 game season at age 39 in 2002? Legitimately impressive, he tried to make kwame brown work so bad
And this guy showers once every 2 days too. God damn
Even in back to backs
And he shoots jumpers in the club with his musty ass.
“I don’t wanna guard him, you guard him”
why would adam silver do this?
This guy deserves every credit and respect.
Sounds like a recipe for trouble.
Thibs don’t agree
When comparing this to Tatum who somehow is back already, remember KD recovered the way he did 6 years earlier and medical technology has come a long way since 2020 alongside all technology. Nobody had ever came back from an Achilles tear the same (not that KD did, he can’t get to the rim anymore but its as close as you can hope for).
The power of having nothing but just the love of the game is truly astonishing
That’s very impressive, I think KD has atleast 3 more years left in the tank
Everyone has 3 years left until they fall of a cliff over night
its just 1 injury away at any moment, and it happens in 30s more, so he could play 5 more years or 5 more games lol
Legacy points added
Typical
At 76? Damn, Bron is only 41
37 year old KD played almost as much as Green and Brooks combined for Suns. 😂 😂 and They Swept Suns 4-0 this year and are on a 7 game Win Streak. 🔥 🔥
Where the Haters at? How the Vibes now?? 😂 ROCKETS won the Trade. 🚀 🚀 🚀
Without a title (and they won’t get one) it’s a push at best for the rockets
Jamal Murray being 7th on that list also blows my mind
I really hope he has Bron level Longtivity.
That’s crazy to do that at 76
What playing efficiently does to a mf. He is so careful with his shots that he doesn’t spend a lot of wasted energy.
As a professional KD hater, good. Burn those joints just to get swept by Denver/SA/OKC
Professional KD hater ☝️🤓 lmaoo