Kevin Durant continued to cement his legacy as an all-time great on Tuesday evening.
KD finished with 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting in the Phoenix Suns’ 119-112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, becoming only the eighth player in NBA history to reach 30,000 points.
Durant’s historic point game came late in the third quarter with a free throw.
The two-time Finals MVP joins an exclusive club to hit 30,000 career points, including LeBron James, (41,623) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32.292), Dirk Nowitzki (31,560), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419), and Julius Erving (30,026).
He also became the third-fastest player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points, behind only Chamberlain and NBA GOAT Jordan.
Chamberlain hit the 30k mark in 941 games, while MJ got there in 960 games.
Durant reached the milestone in his 1,101st career game — the exact same number as Lakers legend Abdul-Jabbar.
“It’s a true honor to be in the same category as those players who helped shape the game and pushed the game forward,” Durant said after the game.
“That’s always been my goal is to get the most out of myself every day, get the most out of my career. To be mentioned with those guys, I must be doing something right.”
“He’s probably the most incredible shotmaker I’ve ever been around and I’ve gone against him a lot of nights, too, so it’s good to be on his side,” Suns’ coach Mike Budenholzer said of Durant.
“The way he can rise up and shoot over people, his height, his ball-handling. If he’s not the most incredible shotmaker then I’m not sure who is.”
Durant, who has won four Olympic gold medals with Team USA, was given the game ball by Grizzlies guard Ja Morant after the game.
“He is one of the greats,” Morant said in his postgame interview.
“I honored him with the ball, he said he don’t care much about it. But everybody don’t get 30,000 in this league. So hats off to him and I hope he keep going, we wanna see him out here.”
Following the game, Durant expressed how much it meant to him to receive recognition from young stars like Ja.
“The thing in this game is to gain respect from the hoopers that play,” Durant said.
“For Ja to show me that respect, it means a lot to me. He’s a young player that I admired since he was in college, and I can see a few of these young players in the league reaching that milestone as well.”
Durant, who won two NBA championships during his time with the Golden State Warriors, is a four-time NBA scoring champion and has averaged at least 20 points a game in each of his 17 seasons in the league.
His scoring average of 27.2 is fourth among players to play 500 NBA games or more, behind Jordan (30.1), Chamberlain (30.1), and Elgin Baylor (27.4).
The 36-year-old scored 17,566 points during his first nine seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He’s also scored 5,374 points for the Warriors, 3,744 points for the Brooklyn Nets, and 3,324 points for the Suns.
Durant’s other accomplishments include the 2014 NBA MVP, fifteen All-Star selections, two All-Star Game MVPs, and six All-NBA First Team nods.
His Suns are currently 11th in the Western Conference with a 26-27 record.
