Kevin Durant passes Moses Malone to join the top 10 scorers in NBA history.
PHOENIX (AP) – Kevin Durant sometimes spends his free time surfing YouTube and watching old clips of NBA greats.
The 35-year-old continues to earn his place among them.
Durant moved into 10th place on the NBA’s career scoring list on Friday night, passing Moses Malone in the second quarter of the Suns’ 119-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“It’s a long journey to get to the bigs,” Durant said. “It’s been a lot of work, a lot of preparation, a lot of people helping me get to this point.”
Durant hit the mark by driving baseline for two points with 50.3 seconds left before halftime. Durant needed 17 points — the 1,003rd of his career — to get Malone into the game.
Durant finished with 30 points, but shot 8-of-25 from the field — 0-of-10 in the second half. He raised his career total to 27,423. Malone had 27,409 in the NBA after starting his career with two seasons in the ABA.
Durant said Malone is one of the most underrated players in league history.
“As a basketball player, I think it’s our job to go back and learn the history of the game and who paved the way for us,” Durant said.
The 6-foot-11 Durant is a 13-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion who has played for the SuperSonics/Thunder, Warriors, Nets and Suns. He played one season in college at Texas before being selected No. 2 overall in the 2007 NBA draft at age 19.
He’s been in the NBA for 17 seasons — missing a full year with an Achilles injury — and has averaged more than 27 points.
Durant averaged 31.3 points, while posting a career-high 32.0 ppg (achieved during his 2014 Kia MVP campaign) while posting shooting splits of 51.8 FG%, 49.3 3P% and 89.6 FT%. He passed Elvin Hayes for the 11th on November 21 against the Blazers.
LeBron James leads the way with 39,124 points and is the only other player in the top 25. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,397) is second, followed by Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292), Dirk Nowitzki (31,560), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419), Shaquille O’Neal (28,596) and Carmelo Anthony ( 28,289).
Durant is 13th on the NBA/ABA list, tied with former ABA stars Julius Erving for eighth (30,026), Malone for ninth (29,580) and Dan Issell for 12th (27,482).
Next up is Carmelo Anthony — at 28,289 — not far behind Shaquille O’Neal (28,596). If Durant stays healthy and maintains his current pace, Anthony should be in range by the end of January, with O’Neal on deck after roughly 10 games.
Top 10 of all time.
KT, congrats on getting to 10th place @NBA All-Time Scoring Leaderboard! pic.twitter.com/0wjKmq6fef
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 2, 2023
Greetings @KDTrey5 of @Suns For moving into 10th place on the all-time scoring list! pic.twitter.com/YiT5QEKxMQ
— NBA (@NBA) December 2, 2023
