The Durant-LeBron Arms Race: Two Of The Best Seasons Of All Time

When we last took a look in February, LeBron James and Kevin Durant were both having monster seasons, with unprecedented combinations of offensive volume (usage percent) and efficiency (true shooting percent). There was still a lot of basektball left to play, but at the time we wrote that "if these stat lines hold, or if they even just regress a bit, 2013-14 could have not one, but two of the most remarkable offensive performances the league has ever seen."

Well, they held. As you can see in the updated chart above, James and Durant both closed the season by sacrificing a little efficiency for some increased usage, but stayed well within "nobody's done this before" territory. Their final lines:

  • James: 27.1 PPG, 6.4 AST, .567 FG%, .649 TS%, 31.0 USG%
  • Durant: 32.0 PPG, 5.5 AST, .503 FG%, .635 TS%, 33.0 USG%

For James, career highs in FG% and TS%. For Durant, career highs in points per game, assists per game, and usage. Only one of these guys will get voted MVP—probably Durant—but both have given us seasons worth remembering.