How big is Durant? As tall as he wants to be
OAKLAND >> There are lies, damned lies and Kevin Durant’s official height.
All NBA sources list the Warriors power forward at 6-foot-9. And, if you believe that, we’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn you can measure.
Those who play against Durant regularly refer to him as a 7-footer, and none of the Houston Rockets who struggled to guard him in the Western Conference finals, where he averaged 30.4 points over seven games, would beg to differ.
There are photos of the “small” forward from his Oklahoma City Thunder days that show Durant’s head rising above teammates Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka, who were both listed at 6-10.
But when the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers open at Oracle Arena on Thursday, the game day program will insist that the towering Durant is 6-foot-9.
That’s as laughable as, say, listing Pablo Sandoval at 175 pounds or Jimmy Garoppolo as ugly.
I asked former NBA star Chris Webber if anybody in basketball circles actually believes Durant is 6-9. He said he can see right past that myth, mostly because he can’t see past Durant.
“I’m 6-foot-9 and a half,” Webber, now a TNT analyst, said, “and he’s at least 3 inches taller than me. He’s 7-feet tall. I would bet money on it.”
Durant no longer tries to argue otherwise. His tall tale is such a well-documented fib that he dropped the charade. He once ‘fessed up to being measured at 6-10 3/4 without shoes and said he registers a full 7 feet once the sneakers are on.
“I just like messin’ with people,” Durant told KNBR in 2016.
And he once told the Wall Street Journal: “When I’m talking to women, I’m 7 feet. In basketball circles, I’m 6-9.”
But those explanations, like Durant himself, come up a little short. In truth, there’s a lot of symbolism behind his listed height.
The reason he fudged his measurements, especially early in his career, is because Durant wanted people to see the small-ball skills trapped in his T-Rex body.
Traditionally, basketball players in the 7-foot range were known for their ploddingly simple games — dunks, blocked shots. Durant has some big-man skills, but he also has the virtuoso game of a point guard.
“I don’t think you can find someone like him,” Webber said. “Even if you’re a good defender, there’s nothing you can do.”
The way Durant sees it, listing himself a few inches shorter made his very existence more plausible. If coaches really believed he was 6-9, they might actually use him that way instead of forever banishing him to the low post.
“I always thought it was cool to say I’m a 6-9 small forward,” Durant told the Wall Street Journal in that 2016 interview. “Really, that’s the prototypical size for a small forward. Anything taller than that, and they’ll start saying, ‘Ah, he’s a power forward.’”
Durant shot 41.9 percent from 3-point range during the regular season, trailing only Klay Thompson (44.0) and Steph Curry (42.3) among Warriors with at least 50 attempts. Durant also averaged 5.4 assists per game, just a hair off his career high (5.5) set in 2013-14.
But here’s proof that Durant is tall, too: He had a career-high 119 blocks during the regular season, good enough for sixth in the NBA.
Not bad for a 6-9 guy.
“Unless you find someone that can grow on a play,” Webber said, “it’s not easy to check him.”
About the only mystery surrounding Durant’s underreported height is why the measurement persists. He broke into the NBA in 2007. He’s now 30 years old and in his 11th season. Shouldn’t the jig be up by now? Raymond Ridder, the Warriors vice president of communications, said that Durant has been clear since Day One of his arrival in Oakland that he wanted to remain listed at 6-9. Ridder, like others, recognizes that there’s a bit of an inexact science there — shoes or no shoes? — but the league has no standardized way of tracking height. Many players across the league, Ridder said, round up to make themselves a little taller.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, for example, had his own mysterious ups and downs during his playing days. The Wall Street Journal, studying NBA data, tracked Kerr going from 6-3 in 2001, to 6-1 in 2002 before shooting back up to 6-3 in 2003. “I don’t know,” said Kerr told The Journal. “I guess it just sounds better on the program.”
In Durant’s case, opponents can only wish he was actually 6-9. At least that would make him easier to cover. He’s so deft in everything he does with the ball in his hands that it sometimes looks as if someone took Steph Curry to Kinko’s and had him enlarged.
Webber said that Durant’s small ball skills mean no opponent is the right size to guard him.
“Because someone my height may not be able move laterally and stay with him,” Webber said. “So you’re vulnerable to the crossover. You’re vulnerable to the penetration and step-back jumper.”
Reggie Miller, another former All-Star turned NBA analyst, said that one of the interesting things about Durant is that he’s also mastered the space in the middle: a mid-range game. During these playoffs, Durant is shooting 49 percent on shots from 10-16 feet.
“One or two dribbles — left, right — and he pulls up,” Miller said. “And because he’s 7 feet — and because of his wingspan — you’re not going to block his shot. Maybe you can contest it. But he’s going to get a clear view.”
Now that the NBA Finals are here, there’s no telling the heights Durant can reach.