Phoenix’s Kevin Durant leapfrogs Moses Malone into 10th place in the all-time scorer standings

In the Phoenix Suns vs. Denver Nuggets (111:119) in the battle of the stars – Kevin Durant vs. Nikola Jokic, the latter came out victorious. However, the home basketball player had one reason to rejoice after all, as he scored 30 points and jumped to 10th place in the historical NBA scorers’ table.

Durant had 30 points, 11 assists and 4 rebounds, but struggled with a poor 8/25 shooting percentage from the field On the other hand, two-time MVP of the season Nikola Jokic rejoiced as he scored 21 points and especially 16 final assists.

The Phoenix star still had reason to be happy after this game, as he climbed to 10th place on the historical scorers’ table. He now has 27,423 points to his credit, pushing legendary player Moses Malone, who scored 27,409 points in his NBA career, into 11th position. However, he spent his first two professional seasons in the ABA.

Durant up to No. 8?

Durant, even at 35 years old, is still averaging 31.2 points per game and it is very realistic for him to jump ahead of ninth-ranked Carmelo Anthony (28,289 points) and the legendary Shaquille O’Neal (28,596 points) by the end of the season. So we could see another shift in the historical stats later this season.

The American player has played his 1,003rd regular season game and holds his career average so far at 27.3 points per game. This is the third highest average among the top ten scorers. Only two other greats have recorded a better career average of points per game. Specifically, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain, coincidentally scoring 30.1 points per game.

National team achievements

Durant is a three-time Olympic champion (2012, 2016 and 2020). In 2010, he also participated in winning the title at the World Championships. At all these events, he was always the top scorer of his team. He also holds 8 Olympic records, including most points scored (435) or shooting average (19.8).

List of achievements

Durant is a two-time NBA champion, having reigned over the entire competition with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. He was named the best player of the Finals series each time. He also has the MVP for the 2013-14 season in his collection. Subsequently, he was in the final three three times, but always finished second.

In 2012 and 2019, he won the MVP award for the best player of the exhibition All-Star game. He has been selected for this event thirteen times. In 10 seasons, he has been selected to the top five of the season. So since his arrival in the NBA, you could say he has won all he can.

Source: NBA