Kevin Durant believes Kyrie Irving is better than Allen Iverson
By Nam Tran
Kevin Durant believes Kyrie Irving is a more skilled player than Allen Iverson.
A lot has changed for Kevin Durant since 2014. He is on a new team, he is an NBA champion, and he is an NBA Finals MVP. His thoughts on Allen Iverson also changed a bit too. Back then, he thought Iverson was the best ever. But recently, he said that the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving is better than the legendary Iverson.
Appearing on The Ringer’s Bill Simmons Podcast on Tuesday, Durant said that Irving is so talented and his moves are “next-level stuff.” He also added that “skill for skill,” he thinks Irving is better than Iverson.
"“I was telling some of my friends after Game 2, I was like, Kyrie, he just makes you happy when you watch him play. You just smile when you watch him play because for somebody to be that skilled, you know he had to work tirelessly at it. The stuff he has in his package is next-level stuff that you can try to teach your kids to do it, but you’ll never be able to do it.“Kyrie is better than AI to me. I’m going from like skill for skill. His handle is better. We might have to cut that out—I don’t want no problems with AI. Y’all might have to cut that one. I don’t want that to get out. I’m just saying I feel like Kyrie got more skill.”"
Durant has had many battles with Irving, but the level of competition between the two players rose during the 2017 playoffs when they played against each other in the Finals. Durant and the Golden State Warriors came out on top, but Irving put on an impressive performance, averaging just over 29 points per game in the Finals. So Durant knows a thing or two about how good Irving is.
However, is Durant’s analysis of Irving and Iverson wrong? Maybe. Maybe not. But Iverson has admitted in the past that he thinks Irving’s (and Steph Curry’s) handles are much better than his.
Next: 30 worst NBA playoff teams of all time
Irving is a very good player and still young (he is only 25). He has a lot of potential, but we will have to wait and see what he does in the future to be able to make a valid comparison between him and Iverson.