Spencer Dinwiddie: ‘At 80%’ Kevin Durant is Dirk Nowitzki

Whether Kevin Durant is his normal self when he makes his Brooklyn Nets debut or only at 80%, Spencer Dinwiddie still thinks he’ll be elite.

As the NBA inches closer toward a return, there still hasn’t been an answer as to whether or not Kevin Durant will take the floor when the season resumes.

But if he does, Spencer Dinwiddie is not concerned about how the Brooklyn Nets forward look.

During the point guard’s appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday, Dinwiddie explained why he can’t envision a scenario where Durant isn’t one of the best players in the league:

I look at it like this: at 80%, he’s Dirk Nowitzki. At 100%, he’s the best scorer of all time, and anywhere in between, he’s still, what, a top-three small forward in the league. So, we’re all gonna see. We’re all waiting. I know he’s working extremely hard, but he’s blessed, I think. It’s a little bit different than other people that suffered the Achilles. Outside of obviously Dominique Wilkins, who came back better [after Achilles surgery], the other people that kind of struggled, he’s probably the best shooter of that group. I don’t see a world where he’s not one of the elite players in the world when he comes back.

As for any update on Durant returning, as well as Kyrie Irving, Dinwiddie didn’t have anything new:

That’s the billion-dollar question, right? But that’s not something I can answer. I know they’re both working very hard. They’re two of the hardest working in the NBA on the court, and two phenomenal players. If they are able to return and that’s the decision they make, obviously, our aspirations turn from playoffs to championship.

If they’re not able to return, which they’ve pretty much said that’s kind of the stance that they’re taking, we still want to be a team that grinds and tries to get to the playoffs and makes a run in the playoffs. But we also understand the talent they add with being two of the top-10 players in the league and KD being, in my opinion, the greatest scorer of all time.

RELATED: