Man that was fast. Well, relatively fast. Tonight, Kevin Durant became just the 44th player in NBA history to join 20,000 point club.
If it seems like a lot of players have hit this milestone recently, you’re right. Along with LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, and Pau Gasol (in that order), Durant is the seventh player in the last five years to hit 20,000 points. That’s approximately 16% of the 44 players that have surpassed that scoring milestone.
Fast, but KD behind Jordan, LeBron, Shaq
I don’t know about anyone else, but it feels like Durant hasn’t been in the league THAT long. Maybe it’s because he looks young. Whatever the case, the fact of the matter is he’s in his eleventh season. And with 737 games under his belt, Durant becomes the 10th fastest player to ever score 20,000 points when looking at games played.
Hitting that mark at 737, he pushes out George Gervin (747 games) from the top ten of fastest players to 20,000. The 7-0 versatile scoring machine wasn’t quite as quick as Shaquille O’Neal at #9 (727) and was 11 games behind LeBron at #8 (726) — both of whom hit the 20K mark a handful of games earlier.
Source: Reddit
| Fastest | Player | Games | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilt Chamberlain | 499 | 1965-66 season |
| 2 | Michael Jordan | 620 | 01/08/1993 |
| 3 | Oscar Robertson | 671 | 1968-69 season |
| 4 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 684 | 1976-77 season |
| 5 | Elgin Baylor | 711 | 1968-69 season |
| 6 | Allen Iverson | 713 | 01/23/2007 |
| 7 | Jerry West | ~720 | 12/19/1970 |
| 8 | LeBron James | 726 | 01/16/2013 |
| 9 | Shaquille O’Neal | 727 | 03/20/2003 |
| 10 | Kevin Durant | 737 | 03/20/2017 |
| 11 | George Gervin | 747 | 01/11/1986 |
Obviously, Durant isn’t just talented; with his unicorn-skillset, height, athleticism, wingspan, IQ, and shooting abilities, he’s one of the most devastating offensive forces the league has ever seen. Fan Rag Sports has a great write-up as to why KD is one of the greatest, if not most-efficient scorers in NBA history.
Durant would have definitely taken longer to hit 20K if Stephen Curry hadn’t been out with an injury over these last two weeks. Whatever the case, the 29-year old has a few prime years left. He should easily hit 25,000 points and if he plays another five years without injury, he’ll become one of the handful of legendary NBA players with 30,000 career points.
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