Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant says LeBron James and the newly restructured Philadelphia 76ers have the scoring power to challenge for the 2027 NBA championship.
In fact, the 37-year-old Durant mentioned his two successful championship-winning Golden State Warriors teams, featuring Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, when commenting on the scoring ability of Philadelphia’s lineup including LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
Durant Compares 76ers to Dynasty Warriors
“The last time they put three 20-point scorers on a team, they said it was unfair, which was the [Warriors] team I was on,” Durant said at a USA Basketball event Saturday. “[The 76ers] have got four 25-point scorers on this team. So, hell yeah, I think they’re going to be a contender. They’re going to be a fun team to watch. It’s going to be League Pass-worthy.”
All of the latter trio had an average of 25 points per game in the previous campaign.
James has not scored below 25 points per game in 20 of his 23 seasons, including this year’s season in the 2023-24 Los Angeles Lakers uniform, per ESPN.
On July 24, the 41-year-old James confirmed that he would be playing for the 76ers next season rather than for the Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers or Miami Heat after pondering about his free agent decision for more than three weeks.
However, despite the lack of prior knowledge about James’ decision, Durant thinks that the hype about the 76ers will “only go” to benefit the NBA.
“I didn’t know at all,” Durant said. “LeBron is stealth like that. I know there’s a lot of noise around him, but you never know what’s on his mind. I’m happy for him. It’s a great decision for him to go to a team that has a good chance to win. Philly is a great fanbase, a great market, and it’s great for the league. There were so many eyes that were tuned in to his decision.”
The oddsmakers consider the Philadelphia team as one of the title favorites, with only Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs being ranked ahead of the 76ers following their acquisition of Brown and James.
Philadelphia seeks its first-ever title since 1983, while LeBron tries to break the record of becoming the first player to win a championship with four different clubs.
Title Odds and Olympic Goals
Durant participated in the USA Basketball Foundation charity event in Southern California, stating that he hopes to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
As a 2014 NBA MVP and future 39-year-old player during those Olympics, Durant would be the first men’s basketball player ever to collect five gold medals in the Olympics if the Americans managed to win the men’s tournament for the sixth straight time.
Kevin Durant and LeBron James collected gold medals twice as teammates in the 2012 London and 2024 Paris Olympics.
