Kevin Durant: Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are greatest of all time

Michael Jordan is commonly accepted as the best NBA player of all time, though occasionally someone else believes a different player belongs No. 1.

Consider Kevin Durant among those dissenters. At least partially

Durant on Kobe Bryant, via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (hat tip: Matt Moore of Eye on Basketball):

“He’s the greatest of all time. His skill is second to none. Him and MJ are neck and neck as far as skill,” Durant said. “Kobe is the top two best ever in just having skill, footwork, shooting the 3, shooting the pull-up, posting up, dunking on guys and ball handling. Kobe and Jordan are 1 and 1A.”

There’s a difference between being the greatest of all time and having the best skillset of all-time. Players like Shaquille O’Neal took repeatedly took advantage of a smaller skillset, and that still yielded great results.

But either way, I think Durant is overrating Kobe.

Durant and Kobe are friends, as Medina’s article lays out. It’s understandable that Durant is biased toward Kobe, and many of Kobe’s contemporaries respect his game – as they should.

Jordan, though, was on another level. There’s a reason Kobe modeled his game after Jordan.

It’s really no disrespect to Kobe to say he’s one of the all-time greats but still behind Jordan.