Durant is James’ best NBA rival?

According to several specialized articles, KD is the only player who has overcome one on one in the personal duels he had in the Finals with ‘The King’ and against whom the current forward of the Lakers, suffers every time he runs into him on a court.

“No other player brings out the best in James like Durant,” stated an article published by the portal Fadeaway World a few years ago.

Not for nothing else, at the beginning of the current season bettors placed the Los Angeles Lakers, led by James, just behind Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and the Nets as favorites to win the championship (although this projection has changed in recent months and for different factors).

Going back in history, the rivalry between James and KD goes beyond the Finals they faced as Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers stalwarts, respectively.

A few days before the 2021 All-Star Game, the NBA’s official website revealed that LeBron would lead the Western Conference team, while Durant would lead the Eastern Conference team.

However, the captains had a personal score to settle.

In August 2020, in a Cool Kicks LA video he singled out James as the GOAT; seconds later, Durant visibly upset, called that ‘crazy,’ then went on to say he believed superstar Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time.

While it’s fair to place the adjective GOAT on Jordan, that was KD’s opinion, but is it objective? Or was he intentionally trying to slight James?

And that wasn’t the first time Durant talked about James. In 2013 he said he was tired of coming in second place (via CBS Sports). With LeBron James poised to win the MVP award over Durant, Durant revealed “I’ve been second my whole life…I’ve been second in MVP voting three times…I’m tired of being second.”

And that feeling persisted even when Durant’s Warriors beat James’ Cavs in the 2017 NBA Finals, fans and critics still considered James the league’s best player (per CBS Sports).

Also, in 2019, Warriors coach Steve Kerr confirmed Durant’s inferiority complex on an episode of the Bill Simmons podcast.

“We had something really good and then you could feel it start to slide,” Kerr explained. “And I don’t know if it was what you mentioned. Kevin felt like he was the King of the NBA now, but nobody was recognizing him for that. He dominated LeBron in those (2017) Finals. Hopefully, Durant finds some on-court redemption in the upcoming All-Star Game.”

After these lines, it becomes a little clearer why every time James faces Durant, the latter goes to great lengths to denote who is better and cause James more than one headache.

Another player who would integrate this ranking of rivals is Stephen Curry whom LeBron faced in several finals and fought for the title of the best player of the last decade. With great duels in the Finals. James and Curry have faced each other 35 times: Steph has eight more wins in Playoffs, but James has one more win in the regular season.

Kawhi Leonard is another opponent who often causes Jame headaches on the court. The current LA Clippers small forward and James have a total of 24 meetings between Playoffs and regular season. The balance is in Kawhi’s favor: 15 wins and 9 losses.

We cannot leave aside James’ first years in the NBA, during which he faced opponents that left him in a bad position, such as Paul Pierce. In the 69 duels they had, ‘The Truth’ has the advantage in the regular season with three victories, while ‘The King’ has more joys in the postseason (advantage of 4).

Finally, there would be Kobe Bryant. He only faced him in the regular season during the 22 meetings and James has the advantage of 16 wins to six losses.