This Saturday night, Kevin Durant’s incredible career just entered an even more elite group of players who have scored more than 29,000 points during their NBA career, with the veteran becoming only the 8th to ever achieve this in his team’s 114-102 victory over Luka Doncic’s Mavericks.
This selective group of superstars is headlined by LeBron James at the top with 40,543 points in total. After the Lakers forward come Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain and now, the Phoenix talent. Behind him, are Julius Erving and Moses Malone.
“I’ve got to give credit to the people who have helped me since I was a kid,” KD told the press after their impressive victory over the weekend. “Teammates who passed me the ball, set screens for me, coaches who drew up plays for me.”
Kevin Durant surpasses 29,000 career points with this 3, becoming just the 8th player in NBA history to reach the mark! 👏 pic.twitter.com/e6qT9O0Wo2
— NBA (@NBA) October 27, 2024
That night, the 14-time All-Star dropped in 31 points against Dallas, officially reaching 29,010 points during his 17 campaigns in the league, in which he has represented Seattle, Oklahoma City, Golden State, Brooklyn and now Phoenix.
“What a tribute to a great, generational talent,” his current coach Mike Budenholzer said about the player who has been a league-scoring champion four different times and has averaged 27.3 points across 1,064 contests. “I feel incredibly lucky to be around him every day.”
Recently, Durant felt the need to defend himself after receiving criticism from sports television personality Stephen A. Smith, who tried to ridicule the Suns forward on ESPN’s First Take for what he considers lack on leadership. “I don’t question the greatness nor commitment of Kevin Durant. … When you are that great, you should be able to be a better leader than he has shown,” he said.
In response, the 36-year-old took this thoughts to social media. “I would disagree Stephen. I would argue, passionately, that my intangibles have always been on par with my talent,” he wrote on X, as Smith questioned if the player would be able to guide the Suns to their first-ever NBA title.
The veteran isn’t worried about extending his contract in Phoenix, as he believes that there will be time for this before the start of next year’s summer
KD has just begun the last season remaining on his Phoenix contract, and isn’t worried about extending just yet. According to the player, who would become a free agent next summer, there will be enough time to figure out his future but for now, he just wants to focus on delivering this 2024-25 campaign.
“I got two years left on my contract,” the veteran superstar said before the start of this present season, in which he has been thriving so far. “I’m focused on being the best I can every day in the moment. We’ll figure out that stuff when it’s time.”
The Suns owner also weighed in on Kevin’s situation, but reassured the press that they are hoping to keep him in Arizona as they are delighted with him, and guarantee that the player also feels the same. “Everyone talks about Kevin, Kevin loves it here,” Matt Ishbia said last week.
“We love Kevin Durant. We talk to him and his agent, Rich Kleiman, all the time,” he then added. “We don’t really go through contract extensions publicly, but I’ll tell you this. Kevin loves it. We love Kevin. We plan on Kevin being here. Nothing is changing with that.”
