When we first watched Dirk Nowitzki play, it felt like we were seeing something that basketball wasn’t supposed to produce.
Here was a 7-footer who could stretch the floor, shoot over defenders and unleash one of the purest fadeaways the NBA has ever seen. Dirk helped change our understanding of what a player that size could do offensively.
We thought we might never see anything quite like it again.
Then came Kevin Durant.
In 2007, the Seattle SuperSonics drafted a player who would eventually become, in my opinion, the most skilled 7-footer basketball has ever seen.
Durant was different from the beginning.
A player that tall wasn’t supposed to handle the basketball like a guard. He wasn’t supposed to comfortably bring the ball up the floor, cross over a defender, pull up from three or attack the basket off the dribble.
And then there was the jumper.
Durant could pull up almost anywhere on the court, rise to a release point that defenders simply couldn’t reach and effortlessly swish the shot. You could defend the possession perfectly and sometimes it didn’t matter.
What were you supposed to do?
Put a smaller defender on him and Durant could simply shoot over him. Put a traditional big man on him and Durant had the handle and quickness to attack him off the dribble.
There was no obvious answer.
That’s what makes Durant’s offensive game so special. It isn’t one particular skill that makes him great. It’s the combination of everything packaged into someone nearly seven feet tall.
Handles. Shooting. Footwork. Length. Touch. Athleticism. Three-level scoring.
Durant has all of it.
And the numbers behind that skill are ridiculous.
Durant is a four-time NBA scoring champion and the 2014 NBA MVP, a season in which he averaged a career-high 32 points per game. He has also produced one of basketball’s coveted 50/40/90 seasons, shooting 51 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from three and 90.5 percent from the free-throw line in 2012-13. (NBA.com)
And after nearly two decades of scoring, Durant has climbed all the way to 5th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, passing Michael Jordan during the 2025-26 season. (NBA.com)
Think about the names we’re talking about.
Durant has now scored more regular-season points than Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain.
For someone whose career has included major injuries, including a torn Achilles that cost him an entire season, reaching that territory makes his longevity as a scorer even more impressive.
And I think his impact can be seen throughout today’s NBA.
We now watch big men like Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić step outside and hit threes as if it’s completely normal. Obviously, Durant isn’t solely responsible for the evolution of the modern big man. Players like Dirk deserve enormous credit as well. But KD helped destroy the idea that your height should determine what you’re allowed to do on a basketball court.
If you have the skill, why should being seven feet tall stop you from playing like a guard?
Durant eventually took those abilities to Golden State, where he joined an already historic Warriors core and helped create what I believe is the greatest basketball team ever assembled.
Those Warriors were ridiculous.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson stretching defenses beyond their limits, Draymond Green doing everything necessary to keep the machine running, and then Kevin Durant, the ultimate offensive mismatch, added on top of it.
Good luck.
Durant won back-to-back championships and back-to-back Finals MVPs in 2017 and 2018, beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers both times.
And in both Finals, Durant delivered two moments that almost looked like replays of each other.
Game 3. Cleveland. Durant pulls up from deep and buries a dagger over the Cavaliers.
One year later, Game 3. Cleveland.
Durant does it again.
Those shots helped cement Durant’s place among the champions and provided two signature moments for one of the greatest scorers basketball has ever seen.
But championships aren’t why I call Durant the most skilled 7-footer ever.
Watch him play.
That’s the argument.
There have been greater rebounders. There have been more dominant interior forces. There have been big men with better defensive résumés. And there are players I would rank ahead of Durant on an overall all-time list.
But pure basketball skill at his size?
I’ve never seen anything better.
Future generations will try to replicate it. We’re already watching younger big men develop skills that would have been almost unimaginable decades ago.
But I’m not sure we’ll ever see another player package everything together quite like Kevin Durant.
Nearly seven feet tall with the handle of a guard, one of the purest jump shots ever, the ability to score from virtually anywhere on the floor and a release point that makes even great defense feel useless.
Some players dominate because they’re bigger than you.
Some dominate because they’re quicker than you.
Some dominate because they’re more skilled than you.
Kevin Durant somehow got all three.
A four-time scoring champion. An MVP. A two-time champion. A two-time Finals MVP. And now 5th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. (NBA.com)
The most skilled 7-footer I’ve ever seen, one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, and simply a pleasure to watch.
There may eventually be another seven-footer who plays like a guard. But there will only ever be one Kevin Durant.
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