Brandon Jennings: Kevin Durant Is NBA's Best Player 'Right Now'
LeBron James better grab his pitchfork, there are some nonbelievers he must tend to.
Considered the unchallenged greatest player on the planet, James has found himself in someone else's company of late. That "someone" is Kevin Durant, who has frequently garnered recognition as an incredibly distant second to James' continued dominance.
Ask Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings, and he'll tell you that's changed:
Props to Jennings for telling it like it is—especially when it's blatantly obvious to everyone that Durant is playing like the NBA's best player right now.
Although Jennings is liable to create a stir with his assertion, it's not really too bold. This wasn't him saying Durant trounces James, it's him acknowledging Durant is the best player right now.
The "right now" is important. Super important. It implies that he's heavily weighting recent performance, and recently, Durant has been unstoppable.
Slim Reaper has topped 30 points in each of his last 12 games, averaging a jaw-dropping 38 points on a scorching 54.4 percent shooting during that time, pairing efficiency with volume. Not even James himself could stop him right now.
"There's nobody that can guard him one-on-one," James admitted to SportsCenter before his Miami Heat squared off against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
We need not look any further than Durant's stat line during Oklahoma City's romping of Miami to understand that James wasn't kidding:
Incredible. That's how Durant is playing right now.
So incredible, that he has CBSSports.com's Zach Harper breaking out his crystal ball:
And he has Knicks.com's Jonah Ballow making Hall of Fame comparisons:
When you're hot, you're hot. And Durant is on fire. Let's not ruin his current streak by making it into something bigger than it actually is.
James will always be the NBA's best player while he's around. One insane stretch of dominance by his greatest individual rival won't change that.
However, it's Durant who's playing like the NBA's best player.
Right now.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com (subscription required) unless otherwise noted.
