KD could average 40, if he wanted to
If Kevin Durant really wanted to, he could probably average 40 points per game.
In the first game James Harden rested this season, Durant shot the ball 31 times and ended up with a Nets career-high 51 points in a 116-104 victory over the Pistons on Sunday. He made 16 of those 31 shots, five of his 10 attempts from three, and 14-of-16 from the foul line. Efficient.
Which begs the question: What would happen if Durant shot 30 times every game? For context, Durant has never averaged 21 field-goal attempts per game and has only averaged 20 attempts twice in his first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
Yet Durant has averaged 27 points per game over his entire career, has led the NBA in scoring four times and is on pace to lead it again this season.
He could probably average 40 if he wanted to. But, Durant said, he doesn’t think like that.
“That is a lot of shots to get up, to average 30 field goals for a season, that is a lot of shots,” he said. “I want to be able to do everything, not just focus on offense.”
Instead, one of the NBA’s leading candidates for Most Valuable Player, currently a twoman race between Durant and Stephen Curry, aims to have a more complete effect on a basketball game.
Durant’s presence on the Nets this season could be taped and sold as a MasterClass on versatility. Against the Pistons alone, he scored 51 points but also dished out nine assists, grabbed seven rebounds, blocked two shots and recorded a steal.
“It starts with me as the guy that sets the tone on both sides of the ball,” he said. “So I try to do that as much as possible.”
Yet one must wonder. Durant isn’t just one of the best scorers of all time, he’s easily one of the most efficient. If you scaled Durant’s stats to 30 field-goal attempts per game, he’d average 26.5 points per game on twos, 8.1 on 3s and nine at the foul line.
That’s 43.6 points per game on 30 FG attempts a night. Only one player has averaged more in NBA history: Wilt Chamberlain, who had five seasons averaging more than 30 FG attempts.