Draymond Green compared LeBron James and Kevin Durant during the 2017 NBA Finals: "Bron is a great player, but KD is like a created player"

For years, LeBron James and Kevin Durant shared a pedestal as the top two players in the NBA. James was big, strong, and athletic. Durant was wirey and tall but an elite shooter and dribbler.

During their clash in the 2017 NBA Finals, Paul Pierce said on TV that Durant had passed James as the game's best player. As happens, anytime anyone makes a bold public statement, social media erupts.

Watching the two battle it out, Draymond Green weighed in on the LeBron-Durant discussion. Despite Durant being his teammate, he wasn't aggressive in his answer.

"LeBron is a great player, but KD is great," Green said via ESPN.com. "I think KD is like a created player. If you create this player and you can do everything you want to do, you are probably going to create Kevin Durant. So he's special. Both of those guys are special. I don't think either is out here playing for the title of best player in the world. They are playing for a title. An NBA title."

In five Finals games, Durant averaged 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists while shooting 55.6% from the field and 47.4% from 3-point range. James, meanwhile, was no slouch himself: 33.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists on 56.4/38.7/64.9 shooting splits.

KD got his revenge

The flashpoint moment of the series was Durant's three-pointer with 45 seconds left in Game 3 on the Cavaliers' home court. KD hit one right in James' grill by bringing the ball up the court.

"[Durant] took over. You can tell, he knows this is his moment," Warriors coach Kerr said , via USA TODAY.com. "He's been an amazing player in this league for a long time, and I think he's — he senses this is his time, his moment, his team. When I say his team, I mean it's not literally just his team, it's we got a group around him that can help him and create space for him with the shooting and the play making, and I think he's having the time of his life out there."

The 'Slim Reaper' made Golden State invincible

No player in NBA history possessed Durant's uniqueness. His combination of size and skill is what allowed him to fit seamlessly alongside Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Inserting a seven-footer with guard skills into a lineup with the greatest shooting tandem ever was a recipe to destroy the NBA. In essence, the 2017 Warriors did just that.

Double one, and you would leave a shooter (Steph or Klay) open for a 3-pointer. Commit to the 3-point line and you would give up a free lane to the bucket. Try to stop all three at once — you would get exhausted trying. The Warriors were a cheat code out of a video game, and that was largely because of KD.

Related: "I think he would be an average player in our league" - Michael Jordan on a pre-NBA LeBron James in 2003