Breaking Down the Signature Moves of NBA's Top Stars

So, as was the case with others, there are probably a few possibilities for Durant's so-called signature move.His post fadeaway, which looks to be equal parts Dirk and MJ, gets the nod.Regardless of who's defending him, Durant can comfortably turn out of the backdown, drift backward on the shot and effortlessly flick the ball into the rim like he's playing on a Nerf hoop in a dorm room.It's hard enough to contest the 6'10" KD's regular jumpers. The league average for points per shot on all attempts, including layups, was 1.06.Fast forward the video above to around the 42-second mark to see the first example of Giannis Antetokounmpo's Eurostep dunk.Even in today's largely positionless game, with plenty of big men exhibiting guard skills, that kind of movement from Giannis is hard to believe.This is a 6'11" player with a 7'3" wingspan who's changing directions mid-gather to completely avoid another large human (Danilo Gallinari, the defender in the aforementioned clip, is 6'10").There are times when Giannis sort of telegraphs the move. Technically, these shots by Stephen Curry are the product of secondary assists from...Stephen Curry.The league defines a secondary assist as follows: "A player is awarded a secondary assist if they passed the ball to a player who recorded an assist within one second and without dribbling."Some of the makes above stretch that definition a bit, but plenty don't.Curry's ability to scramble from wherever he passed the ball to an open spot on the floor is mesmerizing. And as that off-ball movement bends the opposition, shots open up for all kinds of Warriors, including Curry.You could go in a bunch of directions with Kyrie Irving, much like his ball-handling when isolated on a perimeter defender.Irving has devastating crossovers, pull-ups and up-and-under finishes, but it's his lightning-quick and compressed spin move that stands out the most.He times his spin brilliantly against on-ball defenders. He took four purposeful dribbles in front of Ben Simmons and eventually Joel Embiid on the way to the baseline on the right side, where he rose up for the iconic shot.But that's far from the only time Kawhi has gone to his right or left for that shot.If you pull up his 2019-20 or 2018-19 shot charts and click on any of the makes around that same range on the baseline, you'll find more examples of that leaning pull-up.Kawhi is a master at getting to his spot on the floor and rising up at the exact right moment.