Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant believes modern NBA players are ‘more skilled than ever’

Kevin Durant argues why the modern NBA is in a better place than ever before in terms of the skills of the players in the league.

Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant believes modern NBA players are ‘more skilled than ever’

Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is one of those NBA superstars who are blessed with so much talent as to be unguardable in any era. The small forward is 6’10” in height and can dribble past or shoot over virtually any NBA player to ever exist. Durant has been a four-time NBA scoring champion before injuries ruled him out of contention for those titles. When KD speaks about basketball, people’s ears perk up and they listen carefully.

The 18-year NBA veteran recently spoke to writers from The Athletic about the evolution of the game. Modern basketball resembles the style of play from even 10 years ago in very few ways. The amount of player movement, ball movement and complexity of offensive schemes today is quite different from more lassez faire approaches allowed by coaches of yesteryear. Players are specializing in their roles more than ever.

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Teams employ a healthy mix of player movement, ball movement and dribble penetration to consistently generate open shots. Most of these open shots tend to be open 3-pointers, which teams have to make consistently in order to win basketball games. This increased shooting range, across players and positions, has made the league more skill-dependent than ever in shooting terms. And according to Durant, their overall skill levels are better than ever as well.

I think we’re at the peak of basketball, in my opinion. I feel like the game is always going to evolve into something different. There’s going to be players that change the mindset of how to win a basketball game. Now, you see, I think the bigs are starting to come back around, where the most dominant bigs are the guys that you want to run an offense through and play off of.

Kevin Durant argued

According to Durant, one of the principal reasons this era is the pinnacle of basketball skill is the elevation of the big man’s game. Considered more of a dead end evolutionarily in the 2010s, the big men have come back in a big way. Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid have combined for the past six MVP trophies. They have also exclusively shared the podium for four of these years.

Kevin Durant wants sports media to acknowledge greatness as it’s unfolding

However, the media coverage surrounding today’s NBA clearly portrays the league in a more negative light than the rosy skill-based view Kevin Durant is trying to present. There seems to be more homogeneity on a process as well as a results basis when viewing modern NBA offenses and defenses. Viewers are also more likely to attend basketball games knowing that a superstar will probably be sitting.

These are concerns that Durant grudgingly acknowledges the need to act on and improve. For a man who lives and breathes hoops and tries to feature in every available game, this is a small thing to improve.

“It’s just good when basketball’s around. Regardless of how it’s finishing, we should be grateful that we have such a beautiful sport to follow. Being around for this long, this game is never going to go nowhere, either. I’m just always big on enjoying the progression of the game, and quit all the complaining all the time about what could be better, and what we should be doing different, and all the nostalgia you get from the ’80s and ’90s.

Kevin Durant said

The major elements where the NBA needs to work to regain its footing is preventing NBA stars from resting during the regular season. The addition of the 65-game requirement for league honors has helped this endeavor in a big way. The hope would be that the motivation of earning supermax dollars will keep players tuned into the regular season.