Rank as scorers : Jokic, LeBron, KD

[1993Playoffs]

In terms of strictly scoring how would you rank them?

[LukaTheGOAT]

In terms of relative to era impact:

Lebron
KD
Jokic


In terms of how I would rank them from what I would expect from them in a vacuum:

Lebron
Jokic
KD


I placed Jokic over KD in the 2nd part, because I feel like I am more comfortable with Jokic's scoring package, despite not reaching the volume and efficiency heights of peak KD. I just feel as if GSW was a uniquely good situation Durant that allowed him to elevate his games to levels I never thought he was close to outside of GSW, with him getting to play particularly more isolation and run unopposed with traps and more advanced defensive schemes. I could very well be wrong and maybe Durant should be in GOAT scorer talks, like his 17-19 GSW stretch with GSW would suggest.

Anyways, I would go Lebron over Jokic because I think Lebron proved to have more volume and efficiency than the best we have seen of Jokic and did it against tougher defenses relative to era.

Jokic's best 3-year PS stretch in rTS% is +4.7% from 2021-2023 (not including the 2024 PS yet).

Lebron has 11, 3-year PS stretches above that figure. His most efficient stretch from 12-14, had him at rTS% of +9%.

Relative to era, Jokic hasn't proven to be more efficient in the PS, which I have a particularly strong lean towards.

It would seem like general scoring metrics agree with this.

For example, 21-23 Jokic, produced a PS ScoreVal of 1.7. Through 2023, Lebron has 6, 3-year stretches of a PS ScoreVal higher than 21-23 Jokic. Lebron also has an additional, 4, 3-year stretches right at 1.7. This continued stretch of PS dominance, gives me more confidence in Lebron as a scorer.

23 Jokic is arguably his magnum opus as a scorer (22 Warriors series was impressive but small sample), Jokic was at 27.8 pts per 75 (rTS% of 5.1%). When adjusted for inflation, In 3 of Lebron's 4 championship runs, Lebron score at a higher rate on better efficiency than opponent. 2013 is the lone exception, and he missed meeting this criterion by 0.2 pts per 75. I would also argue Lebron's best scoring runs, often didn't end in a championship, 09, 14, 17, and 18, but generally what I am trying to display is that Lebron has a lengthy history of scoring explosions that mimic Jokic's run from last year (and likely surpass it).


Of course, this same logic could be used to argue Durant is a more valuable scorer quantitatively, even though my eyes would make me side with Jokic.

Once again, Jokic's best 3-year PS stretch in rTS% is +4.7% from 2021-2023 (not including the 2024 PS yet). Durant has 7, 3-year PS stretches above that figure. His most efficient stretch from 17-19, had him at rTS% of +9.4%.

Through 2023, Durant has has 7, 3-year stretches of a PS ScoreVal higher than 21-23 Jokic.

I think though, I prefer Jokic because I think being the undisputed #1 option can add additional playmaking and offensive responsibilities when running a team and make you the keyed in #1 focus off every defense. I think you could very well argue that Steph was defense's #1 focus in multiple playoff matchups, which amplified Durant's scoring.

I also think you could argue that Durant's ability to elevate his scoring from someone taking the defense's attention is superior to that of Jokic, due to just how special his isolation and 1 v 1 skill can be, amplified by his ability to get to the foul line. In the end, I value floor-raising a bit too much, and in a vacuum, I feel as if I would roll with Jokic over Durant. In other words, I think if you have both KD and Jokic be the undisputed best offensive player on a team, I think you would you like Jokic's scoring more, and therefore I think there are more situations where Jokic's scoring would be preferable to Durant.

It is hard to isolate scoring impact/skill in isolation because being able to read defenses/playmaking directly affect what shots you take/exploiting weaknesses in the defenses so they hesitate to double you, etc. I think if you make Durant and Jokic equal basketball minds, Durant would have be the guy to take. However, I can't help but feel like I feel more comfortable with Jokic and believe he is less likely to get confused by certain looks.

[bigboi]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

[OhayoKD]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

[tsherkin]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

[NoStatsGuy]

my ranking is compeltely based on the players' prime days

Bag (skills):
KD
jokic
lebron

effectiveness
lebron
Jokic
KD

lebron is the most effective scorer of the 3 because he has/had exceptional athletic capabilities and just bruteforced his team to wins sometimes, especially in his cleveland days. neither KD or Jokic can do that as consistently.
when it comes to pure scoring skills hes the least of the 3 tho. jokic and KD are way more creative and versatile. Them can be 1/2 or 2/3 and are interchangable, whichever flavor or type of scoring you prefer. KD can score from anywhere on the floor. Jokic can hit the three, but hes most comfy in the paint and dominates

[TheGOATRises007]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

[TheGOATRises007]

LeBron
Jokic/KD

Tempted to go Jokic over KD honestly, but I think Jokic's passiveness sometimes hurts him in scorer debates. He's too selfless to a detriment at times.

[bigboi]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

You can laugh at me all you want but this is the definition of a Realgm type of opinion. If you were to say Jokic is a better scorer than kd on any other basketball forum or in real life, people would look at you crazy and rightfully so

[PistolPeteJR]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

You can laugh at me all you want but this is the definition of a Realgm type of opinion. If you were to say Jokic is a better scorer than kd on any other basketball forum or in real life, people would look at you crazy and rightfully so

I'm not saying I agree or disagree here, but if your argument is, "RealGM [home to both casuals and people who exercise critical thinking and genuinely deep dive) is wrong, Reddit/X/Facebook/IG [mostly casuals] is correct!", you may want to look into a different argument.

[falcolombardi]

Lebron>kd>jokic

[Heej]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

You can laugh at me all you want but this is the definition of a Realgm type of opinion. If you were to say Jokic is a better scorer than kd on any other basketball forum or in real life, people would look at you crazy and rightfully so

Not gonna lie mate. Its been a while since I saw GS KD but Jokic seems harder to stop 1v1 than KD was at times. I just don't think he has the stamina to keep that up for a whole game because his style of banging down low is more labor intensive than KDs multifaceted approach.

[migya]

Lebron has the least scoring skills. He has used a large amount of barging through guys during his career. He has skills but Durant is a much better shooter and probably has more versatile scoring skills. Jokic has a truck load of scoring skills. He has McHale like post skills with fantastic shooting and crafty driving ability. Think Jokic works in all eras, the other two not so much.

[D.Brasco]

It's hard and probably unfair to rank Jokic to others only as a scorer, he's not really a volume scorer, don't think he'll ever average 30 ppg or try to, and his scoring is very much tied in with his passing and rebounding.

[Amare_1_Knicks]

From this point on? I take jokic, pretty clearly too. I’d probably even extend it going back the past two years as well. Surprised that he’s been consistently third in this thread, and even more so that Lebron is viewed as the number one scorer among this trio.

[70sFan]

From this point on? I take jokic, pretty clearly too. I’d probably even extend it going back the past two years as well. Surprised that he’s been consistently third in this thread, and even more so that Lebron is viewed as the number one scorer among this trio.

Is it that surprising when James has clearly the best scoring numbers in the postseason across these 3?

[tsherkin]

Lebron has the least scoring skills. He has used a large amount of barging through guys during his career. He has skills but Durant is a much better shooter and probably has more versatile scoring skills. Jokic has a truck load of scoring skills. He has McHale like post skills with fantastic shooting and crafty driving ability. Think Jokic works in all eras, the other two not so much.

KD would work in any era, rather obviously. Off-ball movement, catch and shoot ability, driving skills... the only things which would change are absolute TS% and his handles.

Lebron would work in basically any era as well, he just might develop his post game a bit earlier on, that's all. That sort of power and athleticism would still be amazing in earlier ages.

[OhayoKD]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

You can laugh at me all you want but this is the definition of a Realgm type of opinion. If you were to say Jokic is a better scorer than kd on any other basketball forum or in real life, people would look at you crazy and rightfully so

So real-life and any other basketball forum apparently still hasn't figured out defensive attention affects scoring effeciency(especially if you're Kevin Durant)...

[OhayoKD]

From this point on? I take jokic, pretty clearly too. I’d probably even extend it going back the past two years as well. Surprised that he’s been consistently third in this thread, and even more so that Lebron is viewed as the number one scorer among this trio.

Is it that surprising when James has clearly the best scoring numbers in the postseason across these 3?

I'd say what seperates Jokic and Lebron from KD is they can jump their scoring when they don't have other great scorers without a big effeciency trade-off while KD seems to be the opposite where if you take away a great scorer his volume doesn't go up while his effeciency plummets.

[therealbig3]

Anyone who has Jokic in the same sentence as Bron and KD as scorers should rightfully be laughed out of any basketball discussion

We'll just laugh at you instead for stating that KD is leagues ahead as a scorer despite evidence to the contrary if we eliminate his GS seasons.

You can laugh at me all you want but this is the definition of a Realgm type of opinion. If you were to say Jokic is a better scorer than kd on any other basketball forum or in real life, people would look at you crazy and rightfully so

Do you ever have an actual argument other than “well nobody else thinks so!”

Come on dude, step your game up. Also doesn’t even make sense, since RealGM clearly consists of a diverse group of posters with different opinions, there is no “RealGM opinion”.

Yeah some people can have views or stances different than the majority, but as long as they can be backed up by a rational thought process and some objective criteria, it’s just as valid as any other opinion. No need to act like a gatekeeper for what’s a good opinion and what’s not, especially if you’re going to just appeal to the authority of the likes of Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. Because those are the type of people you’re talking about when you refer to what the majority thinks outside of here: casuals and talking media heads. Yeah, I don’t really need their approval on my basketball takes.