I think that there are things that are harder to quantify. Before his injury his athleticism gave him another dimension on offense and a whole other gear on defense. I also think that the GS years he played a less featured role on offense than his post GS years. Finally, there has been a stat inflation and the numbers don’t show it. It’s like when people compare LeBron years and say that he was nearly as good on the Lakers as he was on the Heat.

Major part is inflated stats by everyone. 27.5 in 2014 is miles harder than 27.4 in 2025

Wild KD stat - he’s only averaged below 25PPG once in his career, and that was his rookie season where he still averaged over 20PPG. He’s been pretty damn healthy since being traded to Phoenix as well.

Barring injuries, I think he’s got a good shot to pass Karl Malone on the all-time regular season scoring list.

Defense went to shit, which is definitely related to both the Achilles tear and probaby general age.

People really critique post achilles KD as if he didn’t exceed what was previously possible for the injury

KD went 561 days in between NBA games due to an Achilles tear

That’s nothing compared to the days he went with no bitches

For all his flaws, he seems to be committed to his craft and willing to do what it takes to be there to apply it.

First, I agree that KD has aged remarkably well. However, his old age has coincided with a period of offensive inflation. A better measure of production would be to look at Offensive BPM. 2014-2019, he had an OBPM of 7.4. 2021-2026, that dropped to 4.9 (still very good!)

Gives me hope Tatum can get back to prime levels in the long run

Only an idiot would think they the same player

This is one of those things the eye test tells you completely different story he’s less athletic and you can see it

He went from being the best scorer ever to being Dirk.

I’ll say that a lot of this is that KD’s game relies less on athleticism than most people. Sure that’s shifted over time, but being super tall and one of the best all around shooters definitely helps.

What about tweets per minute

Scoring has increasingly have been getting more inflated. Comparing raw numbers across decades is pointless for this reason. KD is noticeably less well rounded and athletic. He’s jumpshot has always been elite, but he’s relied on it more

i don’t see how he doesn’t go down a top 10 player

Turnovers are up from 3.09 to 3.23 per game pre vs post injury. Turnover % is up even more.

It’s almost like he’s just a really good basketball player

Man had plenty of achilles to spare.

The funny thing with KD is that despite how truly incredible of a player he is, that will not be the narrative people remember about him when he retires and there is really no path for him to change that

One thing worth pointing out - and not to undercut KD’s general awesomeness - is that while his efficiency has improved slightly, his efficiency relative to the league has declined, so his raw efficiency number is actually hiding a bit of a drop-off. Scoring in the league has gotten easier and KD’s improvement in efficiency has not kept pace.

From 2012-1019, his TS+ varied from 113 to 121. He had three years 116 or below. Since his return, he’s hit 112, 111, 110, and 108. His best year was 116: equivalent to his third-worst year during the first stretch.

Obviously, for a high-volume scorer, these numbers are still outstanding, but it gives some context to how dominant a scorer he was earlier in his career.

his offensive numbers are the same, he is not even close to being what he was.

Kd is not the “exact same player”z anyone who saw him pre jones fracture knows he used to be much different as an offensive force, his athleticism was unbelievable at that size

I read “KD went 561 days in between”..and then my brain was like SHOWERS! 🤘🦄

Cool

He certainly changed as a player. Go look at his shooting splits pre and post injury - night and day. Pre-injury he attacked the hoop regularly. Post injury those are all 10-12 footers now instead.

He isn’t dunking same rate. His in paint time is down.

Because his game doesn’t require anything but shooting over people

Identical maybe stat wise but it’s obvious you don’t actually watch if you think he was the same. Stats got inflated more and more during that time, his defense went down and all around he didn’t command the same type of attention.

This is cool but also wildly misleading as is often the case when people just look at stats in a vacuum. Please go watch film of the players and see if the stats bear out what they seem to imply.

No one would choose post-Achilles KD over pre-Achilles KD if given the option, even though the stats are pretty identical, due to him being a much less dynamic offensive weapon. Nor does this contemplate the decline of his defensive capabilities following the injury.

It is silly to say that KD is essentially the exact same player.

He hasn’t been the same though. His numbers are the same, but if you actually watch him play, I don’t think he can still be the best player on a championship team.

As a stout KD supporter this is why I feel stats/analytics fall short. Yes, KD has still been one of the best players numbers wise but if you watched him before and after you can tell he was a lesser version of himself. However, a lesser version of Prime KD is still a top 10 player in the NBA

Yeah the injury def limited his ability to create rim pressure but no drop off in production by means he refined his scoring bag even to compensate. Amazing scorer.

Nuts dude

Except for defense.

He used to be arguably the best 1v1 defender in the league, he isnt anymore.

Edit: guys, its a very narrow definition. Im not saying he was good off ball or was even DPoY. But 1 v 1? Yeah, fucking animal

Edit2: go back and look at ISO defenders during his prime

but his defence went to poo poo

There is really no reason an achilles tear would prevent anyone from going back to normal / pre tear ability. Its a pretty straight forward injury and repair.

You pop 3 holes in em, pull the ligament down using the 1st hole, then the 2nd, then the 3rd, then let it heal, rebuild the muscles, voila back to normal.