The Unending Greatness Debate
In the world of basketball, few debates are as timeless and passionate as the ranking of the game’s greatest scorers. The names are legendary: Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James. Each brought a unique, era-defining style to the art of putting the ball in the basket.
But in the 2026 NBA season, as Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets passes Wilt Chamberlain for seventh on the all-time scoring list and takes aim at Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Jordan, a new argument is gaining powerful traction.According
to former NBA champion Danny Green, Durant has not just entered the conversation; he has reshaped it, standing alone as perhaps the most purely efficient and dominant scorer the game has ever seen.
“I gotta rank him No. 2, right behind Michael Jeffrey Jordan,” Green said on the “No Fouls Given” podcast. “He’s one of the best pure scorers I’ve ever seen… Kobe had 60-point games, but some years he wasn’t as efficient. KD was 50-40-90 most of his career. Kobe is more skilled, but to be seven-foot and skilled like that is impressive.”
Green’s comments cut to the heart of the modern scoring debate: the marriage of volume and ruthlessly efficient precision. At 37 years old and in his 19th NBA season, Durant is averaging 26.1 points per game on a staggering 53.1 percent from the field, 40.5 percent from three-point range, and 89.4 percent from the free-throw line.
This translates to a 64.0 percent true shooting percentage, a mark that dwarfs the career efficiency of most other all-time great scorers. For context, Kobe Bryant’s career true shooting percentage was 55.0%; Allen Iverson’s was 51.8%. Durant’s combination of size, skill, and shot-making is not just historic; it is physically unprecedented.
The Jordan Standard and The Durant Paradox
Any conversation about scoring greatness begins and, for many, ends with Michael Jordan. His ten scoring titles and career 30.1 points per game average represent a zenith of volume and clutch performance that may never be touched. Jordan’s aura, his will to dominate, and his championship pedigree set a standard that Green and others still see as untouchable. “MJ will likely never be touched as the best scorer of all time,” the article notes, acknowledging the gravitational pull Jordan still holds over the sport.
This is what makes Durant’s case so fascinating. He is not trying to be Jordan. He is something entirely different a 6’11” forward with the handles of a guard and the shooting touch of a specialist. He creates what former teammate Paul Pierce called “the Durant Paradox”: a player whose game can seem effortless, even boring to some who miss the high-flying athleticism of his youth, yet is built on a foundation of unguardable skill.
“Some may say his game is boring because he stopped flying above the rim long ago and has fully mastered the art of the deadly midrange jumper,” the article observes. “But that’s exactly what defines the greatest scorers of all time: knowing what it takes to get the job done, without forcing anything.”
Durant’s mastery is a quiet, surgical evisceration of defenses. He doesn’t need to overpower; he simply rises up and shoots over everyone. He is a four-time scoring champion, a member of the exclusive 50-40-90 club (50% FG, 40% 3PT, 90% FT) for an entire season a feat he has accomplished twice.
His career scoring average of 27.1 points per game is the fourth-highest in NBA history, trailing only Jordan, Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor. And he is on pace to finish his career as the second-leading scorer of all time, behind only LeBron James. The numbers create an irrefutable statistical argument for his placement among the very elite.
The Kobe Comparison: Volume vs. Efficiency
Danny Green’s most provocative statement directly compared Durant to Kobe Bryant, the player whose relentless, skill-based scoring many see as the modern gold standard. “Kobe had 60-point games, but some years he wasn’t as efficient,” Green said.
This is the core of the new-school analysis. Bryant’s 81-point game and 25 career 50-point games are iconic monuments to scoring volume and difficult shot-making. However, he was never the model of hyper-efficiency. His career field goal percentage is 44.7%, and he had multiple seasons shooting below 43% from the field.
This isn’t to diminish Bryant’s greatness, but to highlight Durant’s unique profile. As Green summarized, “Kobe is more skilled, but to be seven-foot and skilled like that is impressive.” Durant took the skill set of a legendary 6’6″ guard and installed it in the body of a center, creating a matchup nightmare that the league had literally never seen before.
Durant’s Own Philosophy: Mastery Over Comparison
Perhaps the most telling aspect of Durant’s place in this debate is his own perspective. He is famously sensitive to criticism yet seems genuinely uninterested in the endless ranking debates that consume fans and media.
“I just look at it like I can relate to the Michael Jordans, the Kobes, the LeBrons. I mean, I can talk deeply about the game of basketball with all of them. I’m at that table,” Durant said on the “Unguarded” podcast. “I’m not saying I’m better or that they’re better, because that don’t really matter… I feel like I’ve mastered the game, and that should be the only goal for every player.”
For Durant, the goal was never to be better than Magic Johnson or Larry Bird. It was to reach the standard they set in longevity, relevance, impact, and championships. His scoring is simply the most visible manifestation of that mastery. He has dedicated his life to refining the craft of putting the ball in the basket from every spot on the floor, against every type of defender. The awards and the records are a byproduct, not the pursuit.
The Verdict of History
As Kevin Durant continues his march up the all-time scoring list in his late thirties, his legacy as a scorer is being cemented. The argument is no longer if he belongs in the top tier, but where he stands within it. Danny Green’s placement of him at No. 2 behind Jordan is a bold claim that reflects a growing consensus among players and analysts who value the modern metrics of efficiency.
He does not have Jordan’s rings or scoring titles. He does not have Kobe’s iconic moments of sheer will. He does not have LeBron’s all-time points record. But what Kevin Durant has is a claim that no one else can make: he is the most efficient high-volume scorer in the history of the sport. He is the purest fusion of size and shooting skill the game has ever witnessed.
In an era obsessed with analytics and efficiency, Kevin Durant is the ultimate weapon a scorer whose very existence forces us to redefine what scoring greatness truly means. The debate will rage on, but his name is now permanently etched beside the very best to ever do it.