Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant believes he’s better than LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. On Durant’s YouTube channel, one fan commented that James is the better player, to which the Warriors superstar replied “Nah." Durant started the discussion on the "Community" section of his YouTube account, by asking "Narrative or skill? Which one matters more to you?" A YouTube user named Joe Deezy commented: "LeBron is better than you it's just fax” to which Durant shot back with "Nah."
Last season, Durant proved that he’s better than James when he led the Warriors to a five-game win over the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Durant averaged 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists en route to capturing the NBA Finals MVP and his first NBA title. Now, Durant needs two more to tie James’ number of NBA championship trophies. However, Durant needs to do more to match James’ four MVP trophies. As of now, Durant won just one MVP award in 2014.
Last season, James finished 8th in scoring with an average of 26.4 points per game in 74 games. Durant, for his part, finished in a tie for 12th with an output of 25.1 points per outing. In the playoffs, James ranked second to Russell Westbrook with an average of 32.8 points per game while Durant came in third with an output of 28.5 points per game.
Durant tired of finishing second
One year after losing to James and the Miami Heat in the 2012-13 Finals, Durant told Sports Illustrated that he had grown tired of looking up at James. “I'm tired of being second. I'm not going to settle for that. I'm done with it,” said Durant, referring to being a No. 2 pick in the Draft and finishing 2nd in the MVP race three times.
In 2007, he was selected 2nd overall by the then Seattle SuperSonics behind Greg Oden of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Durant sacrificed $9 million to help Warriors’ cause
Now that he won his first NBA crown, Durant helped the Warriors keep some of their key players by settling for a two-year contract worth $53 million, $9 million less than what he can demand from the team.
Durant can demand a maximum $32.5 million deal but he settled for a salary of just $25 million in the first year so the Warriors could sign key reserves Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and David West. The Warriors also inked superstar Stephen Curry to a five-year supermax deal worth $201 million, signed center JaVale McGee to a one-year deal, and acquired shooting guard Nick Young via a one-year deal amounting to $5.2 million.
