Kevin Durant Praises Russell Westbrook, Calls LeBron James a Top 2 or 3 Player Ever

Nets forward Kevin Durant had nothing but praise for LeBron James and Russell Westbrook following the Los Angeles Lakers' 116-103 win over Brooklyn on Sunday.

"Top-two player to ever play, top-three player to ever play. It's always going to be excitement when he steps on the floor," Durant said of James, who sat out Sunday's game with a groin injury. "We've been around for so long that people have seen so many battles between us too at a high stage that people look forward to it. It's cool that we're still relevant at an old age."

Durant also threw a good-natured barb at Westbrook, who finished with 14 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and one viral first-quarter block of his former teammate.

"He's just going to hack me the whole time," Durant joked of Westbrook's defense. "We've been doing that s--t since we was 18, 19. But more than anything, to see the role Russ is playing right now, he's just affecting the game in so many different ways. Twelve assists tonight, four turnovers, 14 points, he came in and put his imprint on the game, so it's always fun playing against him, regardless of what setting it is. It's always been like that between us."

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Lakers, who entered Sunday night as one of the two worst teams in basketball. They are now just the fourth-worst team in the sport, which is faint praise for a roster featuring three bona fide Hall of Famers.

Durant has spent the early part of his Nets season embroiled in controversy, some of which (the lingering effects of his trade request) was his own doing but most of which (Kyrie Irving's sharing of an antisemitic movie and subsequent fallout, the firing of coach Steve Nash) was not.

The Nets are 6-8 on the season but 4-2 in their last six games.