Kevin Durant and the short-handed Phoenix Suns were unable to overcome LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, losing by 5 and scoring just 95 points on the night. They are already dealing with injury issues within the first couple of games of the season, as Bradley Beal hasn’t played yet, and Devin Booker missed Thursday’s contest as well.
Kevin Durant Moving Up NBA All-Time Scoring List
“My mom used to have a crush on Olajuwon when I was a kid…It wasn’t Jordan it was Olajuwon in the house.”
Kevin Durant shared this on the night he passed Hakeem Olajuwon in the all-time scoring list 😅
(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/OKSGZtFWII
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 27, 2023
Durant took on a bulk of the scoring duties for the Suns, as he should have without the help of his two star teammates. He scored 39 points in 39 minutes of play, making 50% of his shots from the field and knocking down 10 of his 13 free throws. He added 11 rebounds for good measure, but was plagued by 8 turnovers, including 3 in the final 6 minutes of the fourth quarter.
But despite the loss, Kevin Durant was able to make some history against the Lakers. The sharpshooter began the season 54 points behind Hakeem Olajuwon on the NBA all-time scoring list, with hopes of moving past him for 12th place within the first few games of 2023-24. He was able to do so with his 39 point performance last night, and now has more career points (26,949) than the all-time great Olajuwon (26,946).
How Long Until He Challenges The Top-5?
LeBron James 🫂 Kevin Durantpic.twitter.com/BSioMr4Ekq
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 27, 2023
What is next for Durant as far as career milestones and achievements? He is just a couple of average games away from hitting the 27k point mark, and should be moving into the top-10 by about a third of the way into the current campaign. Durant is currently sitting 365 points behind Elvin Hayes, who is in 11th place, and will then need less than 100 to pass Moses Malone to move into 10th place.
Durant’s next targets after that will be Carmelo Anthony (28,289) and Shaquille O’Neal (28,596), followed by a 3,000+ point gap after that.
LeBron James is of course the leader, having passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for first place on the all-time list last season. Would Durant have any chance of catching him? James is still adding to his total, and Durant is still nearly 12,000 points behind. He would need to average at least 2,000 points per season over the next 6-7 years to even have a shot, something he hasn’t done once since 2018-19.
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