With ‘The Last Dance’ entering it’s final two episodes next Sunday, key members of the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls and other iterations of the Michael Jordan-led squads of the 1990s have been popping up in interviews all over the media landscape, from podcasts to Good Morning America. Or in the case of Toni Kukoc this weekend, a Reddit AMA. The 1996 Sixth Man of the Year and basketball legend was talking hoops of the current day, giving his stated view for the best player in the NBA: Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.
Basketball doesn’t require a playmaker anymore, somebody that you always look for that has to bring the ball up the floor. In this era, there’s so many players with multiple skills, that it’s almost a waste of time to look for the playmaker when someone can push the ball and get into the offense.
Plenty of times LeBron is mistaken as a point guard, which is awesome. Kevin Durant, to me in my personal opinion, is the best player in the NBA. He can easily bring the ball up the floor. That’s a style that the triangle offense allowed that any one of us could run the point or be a post person or fill the corners. It’s not requirement to have a point guard, you can have skill players with 3 or 4 guys on the same team playing multiple positions.
Prior to his Achilles injury, Durant was the best player in the league and he very well could retake that mantle once he is healthy again. However, LeBron, too, was recovering from injury while Durant made his rise, so hopefully, somewhere down the line, we can see these two face off again.
LeBron, this season, was asked to be the point guard for the Lakers due to the construction of the roster. It certainly wasn’t a mistake for the Lakers, rolling to the best record in the West. While he has been a point forward for most of his career, he’s rarely controlled all aspects of the game as the floor general in the way he did this season, leading to the highest assist numbers of his career.
[lawrence-related id=29914,29895]