Durant with the Suns is averaging a combined 2.1 stocks (1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals per game). He is No. 55 in all-time defensive win shares, which tracks defense that leads to wins.
Durant feels he should be recognized as maybe the greatest player of all time but does not have an all-defensive honor, which some see as pertinent to the recognition by fans, media and players among others in basketball.
An all-defensive honor would help Durant’s GOAT case
“Why shouldn’t I be in that?” Durant told AZCentral. “That’s the question you should ask.”
Durant is a two-time champion, one-time regular-season MVP-winner and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. He averaged historic clips against the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James, who is considered by some to be the greatest of all time.
But even though Durant is No. 10 all-time in box plus/minus, which estimates a player’s contribution in points above league average per 100 possessions played, and VORP, the box-score estimate of points per 100 team possessions, he is not an all-defensive honoree like James or Michael Jordan, an NBA Defensive Player of the Year selection.
Of the 10 greatest basketball players of all time ranked by Basketball Reference in box plus/minus, Durant is one of only three players (Nikola Jokic and Magic Johnson) to not have earned at least one all-defensive honor.
The honor has eluded the 17-year great
Durant’s closest vote to an all-defensive team was in 2017-18 with the Golden State Warriors, when he earned 31 combined points from voters. Durant this season with the Suns is viewed to be a candidate for a first- or second-team all-defense since he is their primary defender and can guard more than two positions.
