Durant has endured a tumultuous season with the Golden State Warriors, which has been littered in rumours and controversy.
The small forward has led the Warriors to two straight NBA championships since signing in 2016.
Durant has claimed the Finals MVP on both occasions, proving his worth after high-profile team-mates such as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green took paycuts to secure his services.
The clutch shooter was confronted with questions over his future at the start of this season, however.
With one year left on his contract, Durant refused to reveal whether he would sign an extension or flee California come summer 2019.
Durant was perhaps helped with his decision when he engaged in a foul-mouthed argument with team-mate Green against the LA Clippers on November 13.
Green reportedly told Durant that the franchise didn’t need him to win championships – the current crop landed their first ring in 2015.
Durant has played down the rift, which was followed by five losses in six games, but throughout it all, his quality has never been in question.
That is until now, as basketball analyst Kellerman laid out an argument as to why Duran’t is not in the league’s top five players.
“Kevin Durant is not a top five player in the NBA right now,” Kellerman asserted on NBA Countdown.
The journalist then pulled up a graphic of this season’s leaders in player efficiency rating, which takes into account several facets of the game and produces a number to reflect the productivity of players, mostly favouring offensive roles.
Citing the graphic, Kellerman said: “That has Durant sixth overall.
“‘But Max, Harden doesn’t play defence, Durant’s mostly about offence – get Harden out of there!’
“Fine, he’s out of there so now Durant’s top five. Except that Kawhi [Leonard] is one point behind KD in PER.
“And now think of Kawhi’s defence. Two-time Defensive Player of the Year, clearly the best wing defender in the NBA. Does that not make up for one point of defence?
“LeBron’s in a class by himself, let’s leave LeBron out of it. It’s close between the Greek Freak [Giannis Antetokounmpo], and AD [Anthony Davis] and KD. They’re long guys and they can all defend.
“Are you meaning to tell me that KD’s defence is enough to put him over the PER of the other guys? The only other guy on that list is Steph [Curry].
“As luck would have it, Steph and KD play on the same team. Look at the numbers – when it’s just Durant 23-15 to Curry’s 24-3], their record is worse.”
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