Kevin Durant surpasses the legendary Shaquille O’Neal, moving up to No. 8 on the all-time scorers chart

Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant contributed 22 points to his team’s victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. He moved to the 8th place in the historical scorers’ table ahead of the legendary Shaquille O’Neal.

Kevin Durant at 28,610 points

In the game Phoenix Suns vs Philadelphia 76 ers (115:102) Kevin Durant recorded another move in the NBA historical tables. He entered the game 8 points behind Hall of Fame member Shaquille O’Neal (28,596 points).

Kevin Durant jumped over O’Neal early in the third quarter and scored a total of 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in the game. Grayson Allen was the Suns’ leading scorer with 32 points. This season alone, Durant has climbed from 13th place to his current 8th position in the historical scorers list.

Since the start of the season, he has already leapfrogged five legends starting with Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone , Carmelo Anthony and just Shaquille O’Neal. He now faces a challenge in the form of Wilt Chamberlain.

Chamberlain has 31,419 points. At his current shooting pace, the 35-year-old could catch him within two years, as well as Dirk Nowitzki, who has 31,560 points. The top five is still quite far away.

Unwaveringly, the still active LeBron James reigns supreme with already a whopping 40,179 points. He is followed by a foursome of players – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), Karl Malone (36,928 points), Kobe Bryant (33,643 points) and Michael Jordan (32,292 points).

Kevin Durant is already a legend

At the start of the 2022-23 season, Durant was 21st on the scoring chart. In less than two seasons, he has leapfrogged a total of 13 players in the shooting charts. Since he is only 35 years old and his shooting potential is not declining, we can expect him to make further shifts in this historic statistic in the coming years, similar to Stephen Curry or Lebron James.

He entered the NBA at the age of 19 and right away his debut season in 2007-08 was his weakest. He averaged 20.3 points per game. Since then, 15 seasons in a row he has never fallen below a season average of 25.1 points per game.

Four times he reigned the scorers, in 2009/10 with an average of 30.1 points, in 2010/11 with an average of 27.7 points and a season later he ruled the scorers with an average of 28.0 points per game. He won his fourth King of Scorers crown in the 2013-14 season, when he averaged a career-best 32.0 points per game. He was also named the regular season MVP that season.

Source: NBA