Kevin Durant No. 8 in #NBArank

USATSI

Uh oh.

Kevin Durant isn’t second to LeBron James this time around. In fact, he’s second to seven other guys. In ESPN.com’s annual #NBArank project, Durant has been tabbed No. 8 overall.

Whaaaaaa-at, you just said in your Russell Westbrook voice.

The reason is simple: Durant isn’t healthy and ESPN.com’s criteria kind of emphasizes that.

“We asked our ESPN Forecast panel to predict the overall level of play for each player for the upcoming NBA season. This includes both the quality and the quantity of his expected contributions, combined in one overall rating.”

Durant’s cumulative score came in at 8.84, which would’ve been 9.94 had he not been injured. (Voters re-ranked Durant following his surgery.) That 9.94 is nearly perfect, and would’ve been the highest ever for a second-place finisher.

Voter Sunny Saini of ESPN Stats and Info gave Durant an 8, and explained himself this way:

“I gave Durant an 8 because of the potential of missing more than 6 to 8 weeks. Plus, he’ll need to get in game shape and his minutes will be monitored for most of the season and rightfully so. OKC is better off developing Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb while KD slowly finds his rhythm. He looked exhausted during the playoffs last season, so having a healthy, rested and more dangerous KD should be the plan.”

Ahead of Durant: Kevin Love, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook and LeBron. Serge Ibaka checked in 25th.

So, should Durant be eighth because of his injury? I don’t think so. Because even with the time off and the loss of production, he’s still the second best player in the league. The gap between him and LeBron and everyone else is big, and widening. Dropping him to third, fourth or fifth I could maybe understand. But eighth? That’s too much.

Oh well. Just something for KD to think about while resting up to return sometime in December.

We did get this super fun Durant animation though, so that’s a plus: