The 10 most dominant NBA players entering 2024-25, ranked

9) Kevin Durant

It doesn’t feel right putting Kevin Durant this low on the list, but with the amount of talent in the league now, this is the right spot for him. Durant has been the model of consistency for his whole career. He averaged more than 25 PPG for the 15th time in his career and shot 50 percent from the field for the 12th consecutive season. He was also a huge reason why Team USA won Gold, rebounding from a calf injury to become one of the team’s leading scorers.

However, the Suns have underachieved each of the last two seasons despite the talent on their roster. Durant may not be to blame for those struggles, but his inability to lift his team up as a leader and pick up the slack on the court for his underperforming teammates is telling. In fairness, to Durant, Phoenix was the home of dysfunction in the NBA last season. 

Individually, Durant has had two postseasons in a row now that have been subpar to his standards. Durant put up the third lowest PPG of his playoff career (26.8) and wasn’t able to rise to the occasion to make up for Devin Booker’s subpar performance. He was also constantly settling for mid range jumpers and wasn't driving to the basket enough, nor was he shooting enough threes (only 12 taken for the entire series against Minnesota).

Additionally, Durant's clutch time numbers were subpar last season. Despite ranking fourth in the NBA in clutch-time usage percentage, Durant shot only 36 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point range in clutch time last season. This continued a trend from the 2023 postseason, where Durant shot 40 percent from the field and 33 percent from three-point range in clutch time.

Durant is still one of the best scorers in today’s game and with new head coach Mike Budhenholzer and floor general Tyus Jones, maybe the sun hasn’t set on Phoenix being a contender. However, Durant has to improve in the most crucial part of the game in order to be higher on this list.