Kevin Durant Moves Up

Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is one of the best basketball players of all time, but he’s not done yet. The Brooklyn Nets’ superstar has a long way to go before he’s passed Kobe Bryant and particularly Michael Jordan, but he crossed off another name on his list on Wednesday.

Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is on a scoring tear, passing yet another name on the NBA’s all-time list.

The star small forward finished with 32 points in Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers, moving him into 15th place on basketball’s all-time scoring list. The longtime Warriors and Thunder player has now eclipsed Tim Duncan by about 4,000 points for his career total of 29,924—good for 15th best all time.

He’ll need to add another 8,000-plus points to pass Kobe Bryant (33,643) and Michael Jordan (32,292) before he reaches his goal of catching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 38,387 points. Even if he does finish his career as a Net after this season—a scenario that seems unlikely given how Brooklyn has struggled thus far—he may have enough left in the tank to reach that mark next year if he stays healthy enough to play 80 games each year until then.

The next player in Durant’s path is veteran Dirk Nowitzki, who is roughly 7,000 points ahead of him. By this time next season, barring injury, Durant should be comfortably in the top 10.

Kevin Durant Make New Record

Nowitzki will likely retire after his 20th NBA season and leave a record that would be hard for any player to break. He’s currently the eighth leading scorer all time with 31,000 career points behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Kobe Bryant (33,643).

Kevin Durant continues to climb up the all-time scoring list.

The Brooklyn Nets star hit a 3-pointer with 1:01 remaining in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, which gave him 34 points on the night and put him at No. 15 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. He passed Tim Duncan, who retired following a 19-year career in 2016, and moved past Shaquille O’Neal (28,596 points) to become the player with 24th most points in league history.

When you look at how far back he is from passing Kobe Bryant (33rd; 33,643) and Michael Jordan (22nd; 32,292), it seems like there will be no stopping Durant’s rise through these ranks anytime soon – especially if he keeps up his current pace this season where he’s averaging 2/3 more points per game than last year despite playing fewer minutes per contest due to an injury early on this campaign.