The Tape
Was Bill Walton better than Kevin Durant?
Bill Walton, 1974-1987, against Kevin Durant, 2007-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Kevin Durant is the bigger scorer: 36.1 a game in 2013-14 against 19.9 for Bill Walton in 1976-77. That is a real gap of 16.2 points, not an era illusion — Kevin Durant's league averaged 101 and Bill Walton's averaged 106.5.
Bill Walton wins the glass by 7 rebounds a game (14.4 to 7.4), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
Kevin Durant is the passer: 5.5 assists a game to 3.8, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
Bill Walton: A passing center who won a title and an MVP in the only 2 healthy seasons he ever had. Kevin Durant: A 7-footer with a guard's jump shot, and the most efficient high-volume scorer of his generation.
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