On Thursday night, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kevin Durant, formerly of the Oklahoma City Thunder and now of the Phoenix Suns, met for the first time this season. Despite Durant’s remarkable 39-point, 11-rebound performance, James and the Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter to win 100-95 for their first victory of the season.

Durant and James are meeting for the 36th time overall, with 22 regular season meetings and 14 playoff meetings. For the first time in their careers, Durant and James will be competing in the same conference. However, they have already faced each other in three NBA Finals (2012, 2017, and 2018).

James and Durant have faced off in some memorable matchups over the years, with Durant emerging victorious in two of three NBA Finals but James ultimately coming out on top in the vast majority (21 of 36) of their overall matchups. However, this was the first time the two had confronted one another since before Christmas of 2018.

James discussed his current struggles versus Durant and their long history of conflict.

“Absolutely. So, I never take for granted the chances we get to play on the same court together. We’ve had our share of fights, but throughout his career and mine, we’ve each made countless key plays for our respective teams, and we’ve even competed in two Olympics together. There aren’t many more possible pairings. I lost count of you a while ago. Therefore, you should never take your status as a great player and one of the best in the history of the game for granted. Always a pleasure.

After giving it some thought, James was reminded of his first matchup versus Durant, which occurred on January 8, 2008, when they were both playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Seattle SuperSonics, respectively (the SuperSonics have since disbanded).

In all candor, I cannot recall. The most of it is still fresh in my mind. However, I do recall that KD was in Seattle the first time we met. James speculated that it took place “in Cleveland.” “My brain is finally beginning to grasp. My memory is beginning to return. Sorry about that, I remember now; I can assure you of one thing: it’s much stronger than it was. A lot of people are usually making jokes about his size. KD is the kind of player that will always fool you with a ball fake. He has worked hard, but he has always had a knack for putting up points. Some players have recently entered the league. It’s just the way they are. And you have no control over the situation. One of those people was Carmelo Anthony. One of those guys is Allen Iverson. The aforementioned group includes Kevin Durant. You can only pray that they don’t hit. You’re just an outstanding defender. And perhaps you can make things difficult for him by forcing a couple of turnovers. But we made it as difficult as we could this evening. It’s great fun to spend time in the field with KD, like I indicated.

Both Durant and James will surely be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, since they rank among the game’s all-time greats. It’s a testament to the hard work of both players that they’ve been able to maintain such a high level of play for so long.

James and Durant have been facing off in big matches since 2008, and with both players currently playing in the same division, that number is only going to grow in the upcoming 2023–24 season.

James has a loose 28-minute time limit.

Los Angeles’ loss to the Denver Nuggets on Opening Night proved that Darvin Ham had a strategy in place to handle James during the regular season. James played for just 29 minutes. This is a significant deviation from the norm for the four-time champion, who has averaged 38 minutes a game over the course of his long career, and it will put the team’s depth to the test.