Durant or LeBron: Who Should Go No. 1?

[Tom Kessenich]

They are the two premier players in the NBA. And when National Fantasy Basketball Championship begins next week, fantasy owners will be jostling to land one of them with the No. 1 pick in their drafts.

LeBron James.

Kevin Durant.

Who should go No. 1 in fantasy drafts this season?

As appealing as LeBron is as the centerpiece on your roster, it's not difficult to make a convincing argument for Durant as the preeminent player in fantasy basketball this season. All he did last season was average 28.0 points, 8.0 points, 3.5 assists, 1.2 blocks and 2.0 3-pointers per game. That high-level, multi-category production is exactly what you're looking for in the No. 1 pick and Durant more than delivers.

Making Durant even more valuable is he's an extremely efficient offensive player. His TS percentage (which measures offensive efficiency) was 61 percent, slightly higher than LeBron's 60.5. For a player who takes as many shots per game as Durant, to produce with such high efficiency makes him even more valuable and impactful.
It also helps that Durant is extremely durable. He's missed only 14 games in his five-year career. So when you draft him, you can count on him throughout the year.

While Durant presents a strong argument, LeBron is no slouch by any means. The league's reigning regular-season and Finals MVP is still in the primer of his career even though he's entering his 10th season.

LeBron was nothing short of stellar last season in leading the Heat to an NBA championship. He set career highs in field-goal percentage (53.1), rebounds (7.9 per game) and 3-point percentage (36.2). His 27.1 points per game was a slight bump over the prior season and he attempted at least eight free throws per game for the eighth consecutive season.

After a rather quiet (by his standards anyway) rookie season, LeBron has been the goods year in and year out for fantasy owners. He's averaged at least 26 points and six assists per game every season in that span while shooting at least 50 percent from the floor the past three seasons.

While both Durant and LeBron are superstars worthy of the No. 1 overall pick this season, it's LeBron's passing ability which, in my opinion, gives him a slight edge over the Thunder's young superstar. Both can board and score at supreme levels but whereas Durant's 3.5 assists per game marked a career high last season, LeBron is a lock for 6-7 per game.

That ballhandling edge is what separates LeBron and for me, makes him the No. 1 pick in fantasy drafts this season.