Kevin Durant is having arguably the best season of his career
Durant’s MVP odds
Scoring-wise, this hasn’t been Durant’s best season. He’s averaging almost four fewer points per game than he was back in the 2013-2014 season.
However, like LeBron James has found out, winning doesn’t always mean scoring the most. Players must set their teammates up for success as well. That’s something many of the all-time great players have in common.
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That’s what separated this season from the others for Durant. Averaging a career-high 6.1 assists per game, Durant led the Warriors to be the West’s second-best team even with Curry missing over ten games already this season.
Durant won’t be MVP though.
Players like James Harden and Giannis Antekoumpo are one-man shows. The Bucks and Rockets, both which have been surging lately, rely on those players for most of their production.
For Golden State, that’s just not the case.
While Durant is top-five in usage rate, James Harden has even Joel Embiid, the 76ers center who ranks second in usage rate, beat by a wide margin. Harden is the Rockets, and that destroyed Durant’s chances for MVP although he’s having a career year with the Warriors.
Combine that usage with the fact that the Rockets should end as a top-four team in the deep Western Conference, and it seems obvious he’ll be set to win MVP yet again. That doesn’t discredit any of the work Durant’s put in.
Durant is a far better defender and far more efficient scorer than Harden. In the end, it boils down to the fact that Golden State isn’t a one-man show. A sad reality, I’m not sure Durant is receiving hardly any consideration for MVP.