In case anyone forgot, the NBA world was reminded of Kobe Bryant’s status as one of the greatest players of all-time during his recent jersey retirement ceremony. Bryant was one of the most prolific scorers the game has ever seen and remained highly productive for most of his 20-year career.

But as historically great as Bryant was, Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant is actually well on pace toward topping Bryant’s accumulated win shares mark.

While win shares is not the be-all and end-all stat that determines a player's worth, it does provide a good snapshot of a player’s overall impact to a team in terms of the win column.

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The fact that Durant is well on course for higher career win shares than Bryant does not necessarily mean Durant is the better player. Although, an argument could definitely be made, especially if Durant continues to catch up to Kobe in the rings department.

However, the graph still puts Durant’s production over the course of his career to date into better perspective. The fact that Durant has built a significant gap between himself and an all-time great like Bryant is a testament to how unbelievably good he’s been over the first 10 years of his career.

Bryant was able to maintain a steady upward trajectory all the way to his 17th year, though, and it remains to be seen if Durant can keep up that sort of longevity.