Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant has accumulated a plethora of accolades throughout his remarkable NBA career. The 36-year-old has been NBA MVP (2014), a two-time NBA Champion (2017, 2018), a two-time NBA Finals MVP, and a remarkable 15-time NBA All-Star. On Tuesday night, in Phoenix’s 119-112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Durant added another achievement to his résumé. With a free throw in the third quarter, he became just the eighth player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.
KEVIN DURANT: 30K CAREER POINTS.@KDTrey5 becomes just the eighth player in @NBA history to record 30,000 career points! pic.twitter.com/8AWaN1gBO6
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 12, 2025
Durant now joins the elite ranks of LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Wilt Chamberlain as one of the few players to surpass the 30,000-point threshold. Reflecting on this milestone, Durant expressed, “A true honor to be in the same category as those players who helped shape the game and push it forward. That’s always been my goal: to get the most out of myself every day and out of my career,” after the game via ESPN.
A four-time NBA scoring champion, Durant last led the league in points per game in the 2013-14 season with an average of 32.0. Considering his average of 65 games per season and a career-scoring average of 27.3 points per game, projecting his future on the all-time leaderboard presents both challenges and opportunities. If he maintains these statistics over the next two seasons, he could total 33,557 points, bringing him within 100 points of Kobe Bryant for fourth-most all-time. However, surpassing Karl Malone, who finished his career with 36,928 points, remains a formidable milestone.
