The crowd roared as NBA Champion Kevin Durant hoisted his gold with silver trim Finals MVP Trophy, much to the pleasure of a roaring Oracle Arena crowd. Yes, NBA Champion Kevin Durant. “I’m just so happy to have been apart of all this man,” KD said, and all he could do was shake his head and smile. Kevin Durant was assuredly apart of something special this season, make no doubt of that, and he was finally able to cross “NBA Champion” off of his metaphorical career checklist, whilst simultaneously adding a Finals MVP Trophy to his humble collection of hardware.

Now, Kevin Durant’s legacy is square in the iron sights of NBA circles; he’s the second best player in the league, he’s potentially one of the five best forwards of all time, he’s the best two-way player in the league — the list goes on and on. This ring, and it’s preceding season, seems to have, for a lot of people, validated Durant’s career in a way. With this addition to his resume, people are ready to give Kevin Durant the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. Resting atop the NBA Kingdom’s iron throne is Lebron, the crown of GOAT Contention sitting humbly atop his head. Nothing can topple him from his regal position of power at this point besides the wrath of Father Time himself. However, what lies below King James is oft a point of contention, and who the second best player in the league is is always cause for debate. This last NBA Finals seems to flung Kevin Durant into this spot, with surprisingly little to no debate for his claim as the second best player in the league. However, before we even begin to rank Durant in the pantheon of all time greats, many have disrespectfully forgotten and leapfrogged someone who also has a Finals MVP and a chip to his name — the “Lebron-Slayer” himself — Kawhi Leonard.

Now make no mistake, Kevin Durant is an incredible offensive weapon. The only thing seemingly more unstoppable on the offensive end than Durant on this Warriors team is maybe Lebron with a full head of steam heading to the rim. But here’s the thing — Kawhi Leonard is also pretty damn good at this whole basketball thing.

If we compare the offensive talent of Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard, they’re really not that far off from each other, and in ways Kawhi can actually be considered to be nominally better (statistically speaking). For instance, this season, Leonard averaged 25.5 points per game to Durant’s 25.1 points per game; virtually the same amount of points scored per game. Their effective field goal percentage is also somewhat of a wash (Kawhi: 58%, Durant: 59%), but the key difference is that Kevin Durant plays in a system where it is designed for him to get wide open shots. The sheer star power that the Warriors possess makes it basically impossible for opposing teams to defend them properly without leaving someone open, and often times that person is Kevin Durant. On the other hand, Kawhi plays in a system that is reliant upon him being able to create his own shot. During this years playoffs, a whopping 21 percent of Kawhi’s possessions were isolation plays. The gravity of Golden State’s star players goes both ways; often times Durant’s defender is left one on one with no help, whereas on the Spurs, because the threat level of the other players is so low, a second man is often sent to badger Kawhi on the drive/shot.

Now that’s not to say Leonard is a superior 1-on-1 player, as that would be a woefully ignorant claim. Durant is superb in isolation, and definitely better than Leonard. However, I bring all this up to put what Durant has been able to achieve offensively this season with Golden State into perspective. If we put Kawhi Leonard onto the Warriors, he would also benefit greatly from Steve Kerr’s motion offense. Kawhi seems to be doing just as much as Durant does for his team offensively, with far less pieces and spacing around him. It’s no wonder Durant has been able to post such nice numbers offensively, considering that the Warriors confusion and chaos causing line-up of death causes free dunks like the following for Durant to just waltz in and take all season long. This, coupled with the idea that it’s virtually impossible to send help against Kevin Durant when he’s driving, as if you do, you leave a wide open three for another one of the Warriors’ marksmen.

But here’s the real kicker. Kawhi’s player efficiency rating is through the roof for this post-season. He is posting a league leading 31.5 PER, and that’s even higher than the one and only Lebron James (!). His playoff win shares per 48 minutes are also league leading this season (at .314). Kawhi became only the sixth player to ever post these types of numbers, behind Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and George Mikan. Save George Mikan (who played in the 40s and 50s), that is quite prestigious company to be held in.

Let’s not to forget that the Spurs were up 21 points after dominating the Warriors the whole game with less than 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter before Zaza decided to Bruce Bowen his ankle (Oh the irony!). I’m not sure the Spurs necessarily were going to beat the Warriors, but I just want you to acknowledge that it happened, accept it, and realize that Kawhi Leonard, with a team of aging role players and a let down of a side kick (I’m looking at you Aldridge) seemed poised to take down a team of four All-NBAers.

And all this being said, we still haven’t addressed the elephant in the room. Kawhi Leonard achieves this offensive prowess whilst simultaneously being easily the best defensive player in the league. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone to say that Kawhi is easily the best defensive player in the league, yet even after he notched two straight DPOTY Awards, and looks ready to receive his third in a row this year, many would rather say that Draymond Green or Rudy Gobert are superior defensive players. In my eyes, this is blasphemous.

First and foremost, let us not forget who captained the best defense in the league this season. The key difference between Leonard and the other DPOTY candidates, is that Leonard is consistently just thrown onto whoever the opposing team’s best player is on a nightly basis. Whilst Draymond can certainly guard positions 1 through 5, he cannot do it to the incredible extent that Leonard can. Leonard’s mix of defensive focus and his long and gangling arms are tools of terror which can be utilized to stifle just about any player in this league. Leonard’s defense isn’t at the incredible heights that it was for the past two seasons, largely due to his increased offensive load, however, in the context of being compared to Kevin Durant, Leonard’s defense is far and above what Durant offers. Of course, Durant is a defensive asset as well. Naturally, being a 7 footer with a long wingspan offers him the physical tools necessary to be a good rim defender and wing defender. However, this is unmatched to Leonard’s incredulous ability to stifle the opposing team’s best player on a consistent basis.

In summary, Durant is a superb player. Top 3 in the league without a doubt. His isolation skill coupled with his size make for a very deadly opponent. However, Durant has the benefit of playing in a system where everything is designed for it to come easy to him as a byproduct of how many good players on the court at a given time. Leonard makes far more impact for his team on both ends of the floor. I’m willing to concede that Durant is one of the greatest players in our league at this moment, but I am not yet willing to concede Leonard’s place in the NBA Hierarchy.

All statistics courtesy of NBA.com or Basketball-Reference.com