I would, for a couple of reasons. #1: I don’t seem to think that Jax is as important as most. I think that the intangible leadership is overblown and people are reading far, far more into 6 games than they should. #2: the contract situation with Durant is much, much better. He has a better chance of getting better while being paid less. His college numbers and skill set suggest that Durant should be better and I’m willing to give him some slack that playing for PJ isn’t a recipe for doing well.

Cheaper, younger, and with more potential and not giving up an irreplaceable commodity: I’d make the trade.

But that said, since being drafted, Durant has been a major disappointment if you aren’t a member of the cult of points per game, if you actually care about things that win games. His rebounding was a huge strength in college, in a major conference. That almost none of that has translated to the pros seems peculiar. Lack of strength? Perhaps some, but he couldn’t rebound in the summer league either where one would think that competition would be more like the college game. Instead, it looks like many people, including KD have decided that what he must do is be a scorer. Problem is that this is only part of the game and since it’s the only part where he’s shown superficial success (high scoring average—superficial because it comes at the expense of high shooting volume which means it’s not really aiding to wins) he hasn’t been successful by any measure that actually matters in winning games.

Yes he’s playing on a terrible team and probably does draw more of the defense accordingly, but good players tend to deal with this. He hasn’t just been troubled some, he’s really, really struggling to get shots to drop. The effect of ‘being the focus’ or ‘having poor teammates’ on efficiency isn’t nearly as great as the people sticking up for Durant would make it out to be. This isn’t opinion. It’s objective observation based on the change in player’s efficiency as they change teams. It’s just not as big a factor in the majority of cases to somehow turn Durant from low efficiency to a good player. Yes, you can find anecdotal exceptions, guys who were held down by situation. If you’ve got them and want to “prove” me wrong by lisitng anecdotal evidence, save your key strokes. The plural of anecdote is not ‘fact.’ Maybe he’s one of the outliers. I wouldn’t bet on it though.

The hype of Durant was based on phenomenal college numbers—I really have been surprised by how bad he’s been because he was so good in college— and a skill set of ‘guard skills’ in a big man. Problem seems to be that the combination skill set is only useful if he’s playing a big man’s game with the versatility to change up on the wing. As a wing player, his ‘guard skills’ are pedestrian compared to smaller guards and he’s not able to use his height to his advantage. I think moving him to SG was a terrible move as his skills, great for a PF, are substandard for a SG. Maybe his lack of strength necessitates this, but if he doesn’t get significantly stronger to play more of a big man’s game more often, or doesn’t radically improve his perimeter skills, he’s not going to be valuable towards winning. He may continue to score many, many points, but it won’t be in a manner that helps his team win often.

It’s probably too soon to disregard what was amazing potential coming out of college, but at some point, if he continues to do what he’s done, one has to start questioning if the projections were really on target. There have been guys who put up numbers like his in college who haven’t panned out as the superstars that so many still seem to think that KD will be. Right now to suggest this you get back a list of excuses for why the comparison isn’t any good, why Durant is different, but they sound like excuses with hindsight. I can generate as many “future hindsight” explanations about Durant, but they’re just that: excuses.

I mostly marvel at how saying that Durant isn’t doing well and questioning if this indicates that he could wind up being a bust just seems to make people go apes*#t insane as if you’ve declared the sky green, said that up is down or advocated kicking puppies or something.