Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant notched another milestone in his historic career on Friday night when he passed Hall of Famer Moses Malone to move into the top-10 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. After pouring in 22 points in the first half against the Denver Nuggets, Durant is up to 27,415 career points.
Late in the second quarter, Durant caught the ball near the three-point line and wasted no time taking advantage of the mismatch against Reggie Jackson. Durant faced up, ripped the ball through to his strong right hand, took two dribbles and bullied Jackson out of the way for an easy layup.
Durant has been flying up the scoring chart this season. He began the campaign in 13th place and has since passed Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes and, now, Malone. The crazy part is that he may not be done either. He’s 879 points behind Carmelo Anthony and 1,186 points behind Shaquille O’Neal. Based on his current scoring average of 31.1 points per game, he would need 29 games to pass Anthony and 38 games to pass O’Neal.
Even if his scoring falls off a bit, and even if he misses a few games, he will almost certainly end the season in eighth place. There’s a big jump into the top-seven, though, with Wilt Chamberlain boasting 31,419 points. Depending on Durant’s health, it could take him multiple seasons to get there.
