Now 35 years old, Kevin Durant may be getting up there in age but his skillset on the floor is still near unstoppable. The Slim Reaper has been the epitome of what an effortless scoring machine should be. But an age-old question is which version of KD was his prime? Well, the 2x NBA champion cleared the air while making an appearance on the Boardroom podcast.
Durant was asked what his peak or prime was in the league. And the Texas college product went with his MVP year.
“I would say (20)14. 14 was then it all clicked. Cause imma stay here as long as possible.”
KD was still with the Oklahoma City Thunder during that time. And after finishing second in MVP voting for the two years before the 2013-14 NBA season, Durant was finally able to take home the Most Valuable Player honors that year.
According to BasketballReference, Durant finished that year averaging 32.0 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 5.5 APG that season. He played a total of 81 games that year, missing only one matchup during the regular season.
KD has always been a scorer who could get to his spot and drain shots with minimum effort. However that MVP season was when Durant’s shot attempts saw a huge spike from the field and beyond the arc as well.
Since he was taking care of most of the offense for his team back then, his impact on the defensive end did not get much recognition. Although, it seemed as if KD’s best way to defend was to simply outscore his opponent and he managed to do just that.
Durant’s 2014 season with the Thunder had a prime Russell Westbrook alongside him. Unfortunately, Westbrook went down with an injury that limited him to playing only 46 games that year.
Durantula took matters into his own hands and put up a performance of a lifetime. Not only did he win MVP honors but he also led the Thunder to the second spot in the Western Conference.
Since then, Durant has kept his averages in the high 20’s, despite facing a season-ending injury the following season. His point production hasn’t seen a dip below 25 PPG and one could argue that any one of the following seasons could be his peak.