Stephen Curry has been the focus this season, and rightfully so. Curry has been on another level this year becoming, without a doubt, the best player in the league this year.
Kevin Durant, who’s coming off of an injury-riddled season, has quietly been torching opponents this season. He’s averaging obscene numbers, numbers that we’ve never seen before.
Sure, Steph Curry has played 19 games to Durant’s 12, and sure, Durant has missed 6 of the Thunder’s games. But, we still must appreciate how great of a start Kevin Durant is having.
Only one qualified player has EVER averaged at least 25 points per game while shooting 50% from the field and 45% from 3PT range. That was Dale Ellis in the ’88-’89 season.
Here is the full list of players who have done it, including Kevin Durant for this season and the unqualified players as well.
| Totals | Shooting | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Season | Tm | G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | 3P | 3PA | FG% | 3P% | PTS |
| 1 | Kevin Durant | 2015-16 | OKC | 12 | 12 | 422 | 117 | 224 | 35 | 74 | .522 | .473 | 28.4 |
| 2 | Dale Ellis | 1988-89 | SEA | 82 | 82 | 3190 | 857 | 1710 | 162 | 339 | .501 | .478 | 27.5 |
| 3 | Kiki Vandeweghe | 1986-87 | POR | 79 | 79 | 3029 | 808 | 1545 | 39 | 81 | .523 | .481 | 26.9 |
| 4 | Shaquille O’Neal | 1995-96 | ORL | 54 | 52 | 1946 | 592 | 1033 | 1 | 2 | .573 | .500 | 26.6 |
| 5 | Chris Mullin* | 1992-93 | GSW | 46 | 46 | 1902 | 474 | 930 | 60 | 133 | .510 | .451 | 25.9 |
Kiki Vandeweghe and Shaquille O’Neal did not qualify because of lack of 3-point attempts (minimum is 82) and Chris Mullin did not because he did not play the minimum amount of games (58 games).
It’d be hard to argue that Kevin Durant would be able to keep up this production throughout the season, but, who knows, Durant is, after all, one of the best.
