LeBron or Durant: Who would you rather have as a teammate?
Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant guards Miami's LeBron James during their NBA basketball game at the OKC Arena in Oklahoma City on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
At least that’s the result of a Sports Illustrated poll of 154 NBA players who were asked who they would like to play alongside for 10 years: LeBron James or Kevin Durant.
Here’s the breakdown:
– 58 percent said LeBron
– 42 percent said KD
– 65 percent of those voting for LeBron were age 35 or older
– 55 percent of those voting for Durant were under 25
LeBron is 26 years old and a better rebounder (9.1 to 8.5) and passer (9.2 assists to 3.4).
Durant is 22 years old and a better scorer (29.0 to 26.1)
And LeBron is a bigger winner.
LeBron’s teams have a .618 winning percentage
Durant’s teams have a .426 winning percentage.
Just one more example of this budding rivalry between LeBron and KD, which our man Darnell Mayberry examined in a story about the NBA’s next great rivalry on the morning of their first meeting this year.
This SI Players NBA Poll appears in the new issue of Sports Illustrated, which hits newsstands Wednesday.
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Comments
Interesting article; I am a Thunder fan and I voted for Kevin and I am so glad that Thunder has Kevin instead of ego head. That said, it is also interesting to note that in the Miami game, the self anointed one, passed on an open look and passed the ball to House for the 3 that put Miami ahead for good or the game winning shot.
Meanwhile Kevin revealed his penchant of wanting to be Kobe so bad that I almost think it is a liability to give him the ball at the end of games for game winning shots. I have to question if Kevin even ran the play called by coach. I was watching real close and Kevin was not even paying attention to coach in that last time out. He left the huddle early and the team followed him.
Kevin says he is more of a team player than LeBron, but in that game, one of the two superstars showed himself to be a true team player in the clutch, and that player was LeBron.
Coach has been a really great coach for this team. He has stood behind, encouraged and supported every player on this team, and for the most part, they have rallied around their coach as well.
But I really do question if Kevin and the team ran the play coach called at the end of the game.
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