Kobe Bryant Won't Challenge Kevin Durant for NBA Scoring Title in Final Game
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant will win the NBA scoring title for the third straight year as Mike Brown has announced Kobe Bryant won't play tonight for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The news comes from Sam Amick of SI.com, via Twitter.
"Lakers coach Mike Brown says Kobe Bryant will not play tonight in Sacramento. Kevin Durant will win his 3rd straight scoring title.
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"— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) April 26, 2012"
This is a good move by Mike Brown.
The Lakers are firmly entrenched in the No. 3 spot for the NBA playoffs, and tonight's game against the Sacramento Kings matters as much as what Kim Kardashian is having for lunch today:
Not at all.
There's no question Kobe Bryant, who needed 38 points to take the title from Durant, was probably urging Brown to let him go in tonight's game.
He just has that type of killer instinct, no matter the situation.
But don't forget all the injuries Kobe has had to play through this season. He entered the season coming off a knee surgery and he had a torn ligament in his right wrist.
Those didn't necessarily slow him down, but the nasty shin injury he suffered a few weeks ago, which forced him to miss seven games, did.
A scoring title for the Black Mamba would be nice, but doing whatever possible to have him healthy for the playoffs is even nicer.
Now let's shift our attention to Durant, who, barring some sneaky move by Kobe and the Lakers, will win his third straight scoring title.
The last person to accomplish that feat?
Michael Jordan.
Allen Iverson won two in a row. So did Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant. But three is different territory. Durant, at just 23 years of age, joins Jordan, George Gervin, Bob McAdoo and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to win three in a row in the last 50 years.
Fair warning, there is a lot of speculation coming up, but it wouldn't be far-fetched to say Durant has a chance to become one of the greatest scorers ever.
Barring anything drastic, there's a good chance Durant has about 15 years left in him, with at least 10 of those coming in his prime years.
Say he averages 25 points per game for the next 10 years (and he averages of 80 games played per season) and then 18 per game in the five seasons after that (reducing his games played to an average of 60 per season).
It's obviously a rough estimate, and there's plenty of unknown, but that would put Durant at 35,378 career points, slotting him right between Karl Malone (No. 2 all-time) and Michael Jordan (No. 3).
So, uh, yeah, Kevin Durant has a little bit of a future in front of him.
