5 Teams Kevin Durant has his highest career field goal percentage against
Kevin Durant is widely considered to be the best player in the NBA right now. Durant has had an eventful and very impressive past few months in which the whole basketball world is reminded of what he can do when healthy.
After being drafted No. 2 pick overall by the Seattle SuperSonics, which would become the Oklahoma City Thunder after the franchise’s relocation to Oklahoma, Kevin Durant went on to gain a reputation as one of the deadliest scorers ever in NBA history.
Kevin Durant is the most PROLIFIC and EFFICIENT Scorer of All-Time! Real Talk. twitter.com/FirstTake/stat…
Kevin Durant is now entering the 15th season of his career. Throughout the years, he has had the opportunity to face all 30 teams at different times during his tenure in the NBA. There have been some unlucky teams that have had to witness Durant’s spectacular shooting in his magnificent career.
Here’s a look at the five teams that experienced Kevin Durant’s ruthless scoring efficiency.
Teams in the NBA against which Kevin Durant has had his best field goal averages
#5 Detroit Pistons. 51.5. FG%
Durant shot 51.5 FG% in the 21 games that he played against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are averaging 44.8 FG% since Durant entered the NBA. This is only slightly lower than the league average of 45.6 FG % from 2007-08 to 2020-21. The marked difference in the shooting percentages posted by KD in his career and those of the Pistons and the league is a clear example of the All-Star forward’s impeccable shooting.
The last time the Motor City franchise was truly relevant was in Durant’s rookie season when the Pistons lost the Eastern Conference Finals to eventual champions Boston Celtics. Since losing that series, they have only made the playoffs three times and lost each of those series to sweeps.
Granted that the Pistons’ rosters have not been great in those years, Durant’s consistency despite being a volume shooter and the central point of Detroit’s defense is head-shaking.
#4 New Orleans Pelicans. 51.5 FG%
Of the teams on this list, the New Orleans Pelicans, being from the Western Conference, battled Kevin Durant the most number of times with 37. Durant normed the same 51.5 FG% but did it in more games and averaged fewer minutes compared to games against the Pistons.
The Pelicans are a better team than the Pistons in KD’s whole NBA career. New Orleans has made it to the playoffs five times with two semifinal appearances. They gave the San Antonio Spurs a scare in the 2007-08 season before losing 4-3 against the Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker-led crew from Texas. The Pelicans also won one game against the mighty Golden State Warriors in the 2017-18 campaign.
Despite defensive schemes focused on him by a somewhat decent team throughout the years, he still torched them with above-the-league field goal percentages. Two of his best scoring games were against the then New Orleans Hornets team.
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He dropped 47 points on them in his rookie season on February 17, 2009. It was highlighted by a 66.7% clip from the rainbow territory and 59.3 FG%. An even more dazzling performance came on February 2, 2011, when Durant tortured the New Orleans Hornets with 43 points, on top of a ridiculous 71.4% from three and 73.7 FG%. He shot 5-7 from deep and 14-19 from the field.
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