Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James: Who’s Number 1 in Fantasy NBA?

Every year, many basketball fans flock to their favorite Fantasy Sports sites [mine is Yahoo!] to play Fantasy NBA, a contest that combines NBA knowledge, GM aptitude, strategy, and luck. Every year, some lucky guys are faced with a nice little problem: who to pick number 1 in their respective fantasy drafts.

This year, that unenviable task involves two choices: you can either roll with LeBron James, or you can take Kevin Durant. I play in Yahoo! Leagues, and for this year, LeBron is ranked #1 overall while KD is slotted at #2. That’s about the proper ranking right now.

Let’s check some stats from last year's lockout shortened season:

LeBron: 62 games – 27.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 6.2 apg, 1.9 spg, 0.8 bpg, 53% fg shooting, 77% from the stripe, 0.9 3fg made per game, 3.4 TOpg

KD: 66 games – 28 ppg, 8 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.0 bpg, 49.6% fg shooting, 86% from the stripe, 2 3fg made per game, 3.8 TOpg

LeBron is obviously the superior fantasy NBA player. KD has marginal advantages in points, FT%, and 3fg, and negligible advantages in bpg and rpg. The rest of the categories are easily won by LeBron.

Plus, the mere fact that LeBron plays more fantasy positions (SF,F,PF) compared to KD (SF,F), he’s more versatile. It’s always an advantage to get multi-position guys. (Although I do think they’ll give KD that PF eligibility midway through the season).

So yeah, as much as I hate to admit it and as much as I love Kevin Durant, LeBron James is hands-down the go-to number 1 pick in Fantasy NBA this year. No one else approaches the numbers he puts up night in and night out. Barring injury, he’s going to keep fantasy teams in the thick of things every week (for head to head leagues). Let’s not even go to how insane James’s numbers are for Roto leagues.

Now, as a Thunder fan, I might still consider taking KD with the number 1 pick. It’s not the logical fantasy NBA pick, but it’s a sentimental pick. Maybe if I’m in some private leagues and have the chance to do so, I’ll take KD just because it’s more fun to win with your (actual NBA) team’s players. But for competitive leagues? I know I’ll be taking LeBron no matter how much I hate him. Worst case, you can ship him for maybe a first-rounder and another player from later rounds, maybe even KD + a 12th-rounder. It’s up to your approach.