Lakers: Draymond Green Compares Scoring Chops of Carmelo Anthony & Kevin Durant

Warriors forward Draymond Green compared the scoring abilities of peak Carmelo Anthony and peak Kevin Durant in a recent podcast.

Most of the veterans the Lakers signed last summer didn't pan out this past season. The Lakers historically old roster was the subject of constant criticism as the team fell out of the Western Conference playoff picture. One of the few veterans who made positive contributions to the Lakers was ten-time All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony. Melo provided valuable scoring punch of the bench and was one of the team's better three-point shooters.

The 38-year-old, who like LeBron James, was drafted in the 2003 NBA draft, is winding down his career and is currently a free agent. But at his peak, Anthony was one of the best pure scorers in basketball. 

In 11 seasons from 2005 to 2014, Melo averaged 26.3 points per game. Whether it was the Nuggets or the Knicks, Anthony could always put up points. Prime Anthony has few peers as far as a pure scorer, but Kevin Durant is definitely one of them.

In a recent episode of his podcast Draymond Green, who played with Durant for three seasons in Golden State, debated whether KD or Melo is the better pure scorer.

“I’m going to go with Melo and the reason I’m gonna go with Melo is because I grew up watching Melo score the basketball. … Melo came to the league in ’03. I was 13 years old. I grew up watching Melo get a bucket however you wanted.”

Green is known to have a hot take or two, but his Carmelo perspective is clearly based on his age, not any disrespect towards Durant. In fact, Draymond defended KD this summer after detractors began barking that Steph Curry, not Durant, was the reason the Warriors won back-to-back titles.

Peak Carmelo versus peak Durant is an interesting debate, but like many evergreen NBA debates, both sides have strong arguments.