In honor of the 75th anniversary of the NBA, I thought I’d take some time and write about some of the greatest Kevin’s to ever do it. We’ve probably all known a Kevin or two in our lifetimes. I know I have.
Kevin Love
Kevin Love was selected fifth overall in the 2008 NBA draft. He was traded on draft day from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Minnesota Timberwolves [There’s a lotta Timberwolves-related stuff on this list, weirdly]. In 2011, he became the first Timberwolves player to become an all star in the post-Garnett era [Hey, another Timberwolves player named Kevin!]. He also led the entire NBA in rebounds per game that year.
That was his game, rebounding, but he also developed into a pretty decent, well-rounded scorer too. He shot pretty well for a big guy, though nowadays most big guys can shoot threes. But back in 2012 it wasn’t as common, but it was still more common then than in the 1980s. [I used “then” and “than” one right after the other, that’s a bit weird].
Anyway, Love’s best season was probably 2014 when he averaged 26.1 PPG and 12.5 RPG, among other fascinating stats available at basketball-reference.com. He was one of the premier young players, so it was really exciting when he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, joining the world’s greatest player, Lebron James, and another all-star, Kyrie Irving.
And, you know, Kevin Love was still pretty good, but it didn’t pan out as well as I had hoped. Obviously there was some bad luck with injuries in 2015, then running into the Kevin Durant [Hey, another Kevin!] version of the Warriors, which were essentially unbeatable, then they lost Irving. Even with all that, I would say that Love never truly lived up to expectations in Cleveland. Maybe his stats and production were a bit inflated in Minnesota by playing for a bad team.
I’m not trying to say that he isn’t good. He’s obviously good, but it seemed to me in 2012ish time that he was gonna be the next GREAT power forward, but he was just a good player. And… yeah, he was good. Great rebounder, good scorer, good player.
Oh yeah, and his uncle Mike Love was in the Beach Boys, so that’s pretty cool. When the Cavs won the championship in 2016, I really wanted them to make some funny reference to the Beach Boys connection, like a parody song or something. It could’ve been hilarious, but Lebron hasn’t really done much funny like that since 2010 for some reason. Maybe his life changed a lot that year.
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson was drafted seventh overall in the 1987 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was traded in his rookie season to the Phoenix Suns, where he spent the rest of his playing career. By just his second season, he was already one of the best point guards in the league, earning all-NBA second team honors, alongside John Stockton [some guys named Jordan and Johnson were the first team guards]. He also won the Most Improved Player award, which is a pretty interesting award, if you ask me.
He was a super quick, super athletic point guard, which was more rare back in the 90s compared to now. Kevin Johnson had some pretty ferocious dunks, including one amazing dunk on Hakeem Olajuwon [a pretty good player/defender and much taller than KJ]. In that breakout second season, he averaged 20.4 points and 12.2 assists per game. Pretty great, considering the only other players to average 20 PPG and 12 APG in a season are Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. [source: Jonny Arnett (a good NBA youtuber, check him out)].
Anyway, Kevin Johnson was a big part of the 1993 Suns, who made the NBA Finals, though he did have kind of an off year, missing a lot of games, and a so-so finals performance. He peaked kind of early, but I think he’s one of the more underrated players in NBA history, since he gets overshadowed by other 90s point guards like John Stockton and Gary Payton. Go watch some Kevin Johnson highlights, you’ll be impressed.
Oh yeah, and he became the first African-American mayor of Sacramento, which is pretty cool. I don’t know how good of a mayor he was, but his mayoral record did not factor into these rankings anyway. Here’s another interesting thing: the 1996-97 Phoenix Suns featured playing time from Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Sam Cassell and Steve Nash! That’s four point guards who were all-stars at some point in their careers, and two point guards that are now in the hall of fame.
Kevin McHale
Kevin McHale was drafted third overall in the 1980 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. The Celtics actually had the the #1 pick, but they traded it to Golden State for the third pick. Within that trade, the Celtics also acquired hall of fame center Robert Parish. Thus, the greatest frontcourt in NBA history was assembled [they also had Larry Bird, a pretty good player].
The Celtics actually won the NBA championship in McHale’s first year, but he wasn’t a key contributor just yet. He was only a rookie after all! He improved steadily over the next few years, becoming an all-star and earning All-NBA First Team honors in 1987.
The most famous play in McHale’s career was a dirty foul against Kurt Rambis in the 1984 NBA Finals. He grabbed Rambis by the neck while he was in the air and pulled him down. What a unique defensive strategy! Cool gameplay!
Anyway, McHale had a pretty incredible post game, which was nicknamed the “torture chamber.” Kind of a weird name, but he was amazing in the post. He’d throw out a ton of moves and fakes, and his ridiculously long arms allowed him to toss up shots above basically anyone. He was the second best player on the Celtics in the 1980s, and if you know anything about the Celtics in the 1980s, you’ll know that they were pretty darn good. They won three championships, made five finals appearances, and McHale won 6th man of the year twice in a row. He was one of those guys, like Manu Ginobili, that was kinda “too good” to come off the bench, but did anyway. Of course, McHale did eventually start at power forward.
One of the greatest players of the 80s, the second-best on the legendary 86 Celtics, one of the greatest players of all time
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett was drafted straight out of high school in 1995, which effectively launched the straight-outta-high-school era of the NBA draft. In the ten years that followed the following notable stars would be drafted directly from high school: Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Amare Stoudemire, Lebron James, and Dwight Howard, among several other players who made at least one all-star team. Before Garnett, it was extremely rare for players to get picked without going to college, and after him came a flood of high school seniors jumping to the pro’s.
Garnett was part of a great generation of power forwards that emerged towards the end of Barkley’s and Malone’s careers. We’re talking about Duncan, Nowitzki, Webber, and Rasheed Wallace. And I know that Duncan is always considered to be the greatest power forward of all time with the best career, and I agree. BUT, Garnett at his best [2004] was about just as good as Duncan at his best [2003, maybe]. They were both amazing, of course.
The problem was that Garnett was drafted to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are generally not good, to say the least. In fact, I know there used to be a stat where Tim Duncan as a player had more wins than the Timberwolves as a franchise. I don’t know if that’s true any more.
Garnett was a tenacious defender and rebounder, and a well-rounded offensive threat. In the 02-03 season, he led his team in PPG, RPG, APG, BPG, and SPG, which demonstrates his incredible ability mixed with a supporting cast that was unable to help Garnett to the finals. The T-Wolves made the conference finals in 2004, but lost to the Lakers. After a few downward years for the team, Garnett was traded by, funnily enough, Kevin McHale. The trade sent Garnett, funnily enough, to McHale’s former team, the Boston Celtics. It was agreed upon, funnily enough, by McHale and his former teammate, Danny Ainge.
Anyway, that first year, the Celtics improved by 42 wins, and ultimately won the NBA championship over my beloved Lakers, culminating in a brutal 39-point victory in game 6 to clinch the series. Still the worst game I’ve ever watched as a Lakers fan. He then shouted “Anything is possible!” which was pretty cool. Oh, and Garnett won defensive player of the year in 2008 as well. Only five players have done that [Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Giannis Antetokounmpo being the others]. Pretty good company.
Garnett was one of the greatest defenders in NBA history, and his intensity of play is on par with guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. I actually love Garnett as a player, even though he was on the hated [by me] Celtics. But when he was on the Timberwolves, he was one of my favorites, and well-deserving as the 2nd greatest Kevin in NBA history.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant was famously drafted second overall by the Seattle Supersonics in the 2007 NBA draft. Famous because Portland passed on Durant in favor of Greg Oden. Durant would go on to become the greatest Kevin in NBA history, and Oden isn’t even in the top 10 Greg’s. It was the second time that Portland had passed on one of the greatest players of all time. The first instance, obviously, was when they passed on Michael Jordan in 1984. Literally 1984. Orwell’s nightmare became reality.
In 2010, Durant became the youngest player to win the NBA scoring title, a feat he accomplished over the likes of Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade. Pretty good players back then. He’s won the scoring title four times, and he’s currently leading the NBA in PPG this year. Only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain have more scoring titles than him. Those are pretty good players too.
The point is that Kevin Durant is a basketball scoring machine. He’s tall with long arms, and he shoots with a high release, making his jumpshot nigh unblockable [is that how you use the word “nigh”?]. He can shoot from basically anywhere, he’s got handles to get to the basket, or wherever he wants to go. He can make free throws, midrange, threes, anything. Plenty of people call him the greatest scorer in NBA history. I don’t, but plenty of people do, for whatever that’s worth.
He won the league MVP in 2014, but then he said his mom was the real MVP, which was nice. Now, we all know that in 2016 the Thunder lost the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors after leading 3-1. Durant did play pretty amazing in games 5 and 7, though. Here’s the other thing: they beat a 67-15 Spurs team right before that. That Spurs team had one of the best regular seasons of all time. They were incredible. It was a crazy postseason.
Then Durant left the Thunder during the next offseason and signed with the Warriors. They won the next two championships and Durant won the two Finals MVP’s. He missed the first four games of the 2019 Finals, then tore his achilles in game five. Now, some people seem to think that Kevin Durant’s free agency decisions somehow make him less good at basketball. How does that work? Did he get worse at shooting, dribbling, defense? No. Sure, his efficiency was boosted by being surrounded by GOAT shooters, but he didn’t get worse. You might not like him, and that’s fine. There’s no rule saying you have to like the best player. The best Kevin in NBA history.
Lefty Forrester 