Kevin Durant’s dominant performance through the first two games of the NBA Finals has truly shown just how much of an upgrade he’s been for the Golden State Warriors.

It’s also brought up the notion that he’s surpassed LeBron James as the NBA’s best basketball player. Dwight Howard would agree.

Howard joined ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday in front of an audience full of Cavaliers fans, and he reluctantly admitted that Durant is the NBA’s best basketball player. The conversation starts at around the 4:45 mark.

The initial takeaway was that Howard was really put on the spot. He didn’t want to say something controversial and offend a building full of Cavs fans. When co-host Max Kellerman created an Earth-saving scenario that depended on Howard taking aliens to the world’s best basketball player, Howard, at first, said he’d choose himself.

When that was laughed off, Howard finally made his choice — and it was Durant.

While there may be some recency bias in choosing Durant over LeBron, Howard made the case that Durant — with his 7-foot frame — is doing things that no other 7-footer can do. His scoring has always been there, but Howard was particularly impressed with Durant’s defense as of late.

Plus, he managed to upset a bunch of Cavaliers fans with his answer and that’s fun TV.