You can sort and sort and sort, and you can find all sorts of stats, but if you really tighten up your search, you will see that there have been 6 seasons in the history of the NBA that really stand out statistically.
http://bkref.com/tiny/I1K81
Wilt 1963-64
Kareem 1971-72
Jordan 1987-88
Jordan 1990-91
Jordan 1995-96
LeBron 2008-09
(If you start looking for seasons with PER over 31, you get Jordan, Wilt and LeBron only, ten seasons total - a person looking for an answer for "best NBA player ever " might well find that list of 10 seasons and conclude that those are your 3 best guys....and I think that is a reasonable assumption).
Durant is current over 29 in PER, .307 WS/48 and looking hard at 20 Win Shares overall
James - 31.2, .304, also looking at 20 WS overall.
So, assuming these guys maintain this torrid pace (which seems tough to imagine, but I guess it is possible), we may see a situation where we have two guys register top 8 all-time seasons IN THE SAME YEAR.
While two such monster seasons have never occurred together, in recent history there have been two almost-as-great statistical seasons by different guys in the same year twice - in 1995-96 Jordan received 98% of the MVP vote but David Robsinon finished second and had an unbelievable statistical season (PER over 29, almost 20 win shares); and in 2008-09, James's historically great season left poor Chris Paul with no love whatsoever -- James finished first in the MVP balloting while Paul (30 PER, .292 WS/48, over 18 win shares) placed a pathetic 5th, behind Kobe, Wade and Dwight Howard.
If you are paying attention in 2012-13, NBA fans, you are witnessing history in the making.
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Reminds me of the year in which Daunte Culpepper posted a top 8, all-time statistical season but was overlooked because of Peyton Manning's monster year. Durant's season will likely soon be forgotten just as Culpepper's was ...
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