LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant, Who Ya Got in 2015?

The 2014-15 NBA MVP race is missing two notable names at the top.

Kevin Durant and LeBron James, who together earned the honor in five of the last six seasons, are no longer jostling for pole position. But on any given night, either can flash the dominance needed to wear the vaunted "best player on the planet" label.

Supremely skilled, absurdly physically gifted and cerebral to the point they see plays several steps ahead of where they're actually at, Durant and James remain two of the game's premier heavyweights.

But what happens when both step inside the same ring? It's a debate hoop heads can't resist having, even if it's worn a bit thin with Durant. If forced to choose between these two heroes of the hardwood, which one is the better option?

It's an answer that can only come from a deep statistical dive into the presents and futures of two of the NBA's best.

Offense

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In case Durant's run of four scoring titles in five seasons wasn't convincing enough, he's used what looked like an injury-marred year to send another reminder he is the NBA's premier point producer.

He had never missed more than eight games in a single season before, but he cleared that mark and then some before making his debut. Sidelined by a Jones fracture during training camp, his first outing didn't come until the Oklahoma City Thunder's 18th game.

He seemed determined to make up for lost time the second he stepped back inside the lines. He erupted for 27 points his first game back, poured in 28 five nights later and flirted with a triple-double (23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists) during his fourth game back.

Somehow, that was only the appetizer for even better things to come.

Durant's most impressive scoring game of the season may have been his shortest. He torched the Golden State Warriors—the NBA's most efficient defense—for 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting in less than 19 minutes of action on Dec. 18 before a sprained ankle forced him to make an early exit.

"He's probably the closest thing to unguardable in the league, being that tall, having the shooting process that he does and being able to put it on the floor and handle the ball," Warriors guard Klay Thompson said of Durant, per Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle. "We've never really seen a player like him. He's so fluid and so effortless."

Durant missed six games due to the ankle injury. He overstuffed the stat sheet with 44 points, 10 boards and seven assists in his return.

Despite those multiple absences and the fact he's logging a career-low 32.8 minutes a night, Durant has still had a better scoring season than James.

Keep in mind, James is playing 37.3 minutes per game. Place their scoring averages on the same per-36-minute scale, and Durant's climbs to 27.7, while James' falls to 25.1.

James is still one of the league's top scorers (he ranks second overall), but Durant is on a different plane. The fact that James has lost more than seven points from his field-goal percentage this season (49.5) compared to last (56.7) shifts the scoring edge even more to Durant's side.

But offense is about more than scoring. And those extra categories help James close the gap.

As a passer, James is unrivaled at his position. Few players in the entire league create plays the way he can.

He ranks 10th overall in assists per game (7.4) and is tied for ninth in points created by assists per game (17.5). His combination of size, strength, vision and creativity allows him to complete passes most wouldn't even attempt.

James can do it all on the offensive end.

He's a 6'8", 250-pound freight train off the dribble and explosive around the rim. Defenses have to focus their efforts on limiting his penetration. But his skill set is too deep to take everything away. Pack the paint, and he can light the lamp from distance. Swarm to stop him and get picked apart by the darts he tosses to his teammates.

"Sometimes you can do it perfectly and he still can hurt you," Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said on defending James, per the Northeast Ohio Media Group's Joe Vardon. "... When you're dealing with a star who passes the ball like that, he makes everyone else better."

Durant just doesn't have that part of the game in his arsenal. He peaked at 5.5 assists per game last season and has only dished out 3.9 this time around. James hasn't averaged fewer than six helpers a night since posting a 5.9 assists-per-game average as a rookie in 2003-04.

The Cavaliers have averaged 9.9 points per 100 possessions more with James on the floor this season. For the Thunder, Durant has provided a 6.2 points-per-100-possessions swing at the offensive end.

As good a scorer as Durant is, James is a more complete offensive force.

Advantage: James

Defense

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Even with all of the statistical advancements made in recent years, measuring defensive impact remains an inexact science. So much of what a player allows on that end of the floor is dependent on how his team performs as a whole. He might get credited for someone providing insurance behind him or penalized for a missed rotation that wasn't his to make.

But enough data exists that, when combined with the eye test, it can paint a reasonably clear picture of how a player has performed defensively.

And right now, that picture looks nothing like what we're used to seeing from James. As Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes noted, James hasn't looked like the same defender for a while now:

"

This is going to sting a little, but we need to talk about it: Quietly, James wasn't a great defender last season.

His block rate fell off a cliff, going from 1.2 swats per 100 possessions in 2012-13 to just 0.5 in 2013-14, per Basketball-Reference.com. That may not seem significant, but it's a key indicator that something changed in his defensive game. ...

... The bigger picture featured James routinely standing upright in his final Miami Heat season, moving with less urgency and generally taking a break on D. And that's to say nothing of the time he spent arguing calls instead of getting back in transition.

"

James has brought his block rate back up to 1.0, but a lot of those criticisms still apply. His defensive rating is worse now (107) than it was then (105), and he still suffers from maddening fits of lethargic play on that side of the ball.

That has led many to speculate whether Father Time has started gaining on the 30-year-old. James already sits 235th on the league's all-time list of most regular-season games played with 877, and that number doesn't include his 158 playoff contests (nearly two entire seasons).

"It should not come as a surprise that James is starting to show his odometer," ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst wrote in December. "The numbers and the eye test show this season that James has perhaps lost a half-step. And when sampling the past highlights, the difference becomes more pronounced."

James has openly discussed his body's mileage himself.

"I've got 41,000 minutes in my career, including the playoffs," he said, per Vardon. "You drive that car in the winter time."

James doesn't look like the athletic freak of his younger days. He is averaging 1.1 dunks per game this season after throwing down 2.0 a night last year. He may in fact have lost some bounce, though he has also battled soreness in his back, knee and elbow.

It's hard to say whether he's reached the backside of his career or if he's merely coasting a bit to conserve some energy for the stretch run and beyond. Whatever the reason, it seems to have wreaked the most havoc on the defensive end.

As a team, the Cavs have struggled to find defensive consistency. Their issues extend well beyond James, but it's hard to praise anyone on this roster with Cleveland sitting 26th in defensive efficiency and 28th in field-goal percentage against.

It's been just the opposite for Durant. The supercharged scoring machine has been playing some of the best defense of his career.

Durant's defensive improvements played a big part in his capturing of the 2013-14 MVP award. This season, he has a better blocks average (1.0) and defensive rating (102) than he did then (0.7 and 104, respectively).

Using the available individual metrics, Durant has been more of a defensive pest than James.

Opposing small forwards have a paltry 9.3 PER against Durant this season, via 82games.com. James has allowed them to post a 10.7 PER. Durant has also held matchups to 6.7 field-goal percentage points below their average. For James, the difference has been a mere 1.8 percentage points.

As ESPN.com's Royce Young noted, Durant's otherworldly physical gifts help Oklahoma City field the proverbial immovable object:

Durant even has the edge when it comes to closing out defensive possessions. He has inhaled 6.3 defensive rebounds per game, while James has only tracked down 4.8 (the fewest since his rookie year).

This category has typically been dominated by James, a six-time All-Defensive team selection. But between his declining effort and Durant's increasing activity, this has now flipped to the other side of the conversation.

Advantage: Durant

Overall

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There is no wrong way to answer this question.

Durant lost the offensive argument despite having a mantle full of scoring titles. James was defeated at the side of the court where he has been chosen as one of the NBA's top 10 players six different times.

It's like picking between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. You might have a preference one way or the other, but either choice is going to result in an impressive jewelry collection.

Then again, you didn't read this far to hear that we've gone the youth sports route and given everyone the same participation trophy.

One has to stand above the other. And despite the fact he might be showing his age a bit, King James still claims the throne.

James' numbers were bound to take a hit after heading back home this summer. He had to adjust to a (mostly) new set of teammates, and they had to find their rhythm with him. He had to learn a new system from a head coach with no NBA experience. He went from a team that had been to each of the last four NBA Finals to one that never made the playoffs during that stretch.

Statistically, the transition was going to be a little rough. But who else could go for 26.0 points, 7.4 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in a "down" year?

And remember, this is still only the halfway point. He has plenty of time to clean up some of these stats, and he's been doing just that, averaging 29.7 points on 52.9 percent shooting, 6.8 boards and 6.5 assists in the new year.

Durant is playing better on the defensive end, but James' effort played the biggest part in that decision. In other words, James is still the league's best two-way talent when he has the right focus—and his health.

Again, if you have Durant or James around, your team is in tremendous shape. But if forced to choose, James remains a (slightly) better option.

Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.

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