"Accumulating stats is not a bad thing"- Kevin Durant shuts down stat-padding criticism
Recently, making history, Kevin Durant surpassed Michael Jordan to become the fifth-highest scorer in NBA history. Standing close to seven feet, Durant is no doubt a walking bucket. The perfect definition of a three-level scorer, he remains consistent with his numbers to this date.
When it comes to statistics in the NBA, there exist several different ideologies. The major point of contention is that big numbers do not necessarily translate into winning, which is pretty much true. However, the argument against it is that the ultimate prize requires a team effort.
Discussing this in depth during an episode of Boardroom Talks were Durant and his agent, Rich Kleiman. There is often a lot of scrutiny around players and their individual stats. However, Kevin has largely remained immune to it, thanks to his highly efficient ways of contributing.
Nonetheless, the 37-year-old superstar does not understand the negativity around numbers.
"Some things are just that simple. Stats tell you everything you need to know. And then accumulating stats is not a bad thing. I think in basketball, I mean, you look at other sports. You know, guys get MVPs, accolades based off of simply what their stats say," KD told Kleiman, with the two further breaking down the perception surrounding stats.
The narrative behind it
As far as metrics and data are concerned, much of their credibility depends on media perception. Something we've witnessed time and again. A prime example would be the stat-padding narratives surrounding former MVPs like Russell Westbrook and James Harden . Not to mention their resumes lacking a championship ring (or two).
Elaborating on his earlier points, Durant discussed the role of narratives in stats.
"I think in basketball, sometimes is this underlining narrative or meaning underneath what all the stats truly means. Like some stats to some people may mean something different, but at the end of the day, it takes production to put those numbers up for that long period of time, and that should be respected," said KD, who has achieved almost every accolade in the book.
Nevertheless, Durant did mention that there was always a general admiration among fans for scoring feats, particularly milestones like 30K points or all-time Top 5 rankings. Though a believer of certain stats, the veteran forward had completely despised analytics as a concept.
The thin line
While correlated in many ways, there are some basic differences between statistics and analytics. The former is more of a traditional concept, with easy-to-understand terms and raw numbers. On the other hand, analytics is a much more in-depth study of data, upon which various strategies are developed across the board.
Back in 2018, Durant shared his distaste for analytics, offering detailed reasoning for it.
"I don't like analytics at all. I like field goal percentage defense, I like field goal percentage, I like turnovers, I like rebounds - the real stats. The true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage, and all that stuff. Come on, man, it's flawed. PER, it's flawed."
"You can't look at numbers first and then watch. (People) are lazy. They don't want to watch games. It's too long, it's too hard to watch a game. There's a bunch of coaching vultures in the game right now. It's a bad place," Durant told the media in an old interaction, asking them to watch more basketball games.
Durant surely makes a valid point. Unfortunately, there is a very thin line between stats and analytics, which is often hard to explain to fans. Regardless, KD would prefer people watching the game for the joy of it rather than discussing irrelevant aspects.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
