Kevin Durant enters top 10 all time leaderboard overtaking Moses Malone

Kevin Durant enters top 10 all-time leaderboard, overtaking Moses Malone – NBA.com

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Kevin Durant overtakes Moses Malone and joins the top 10 NBA scorers.

PHOENIX (AP) – Kevin Durant sometimes spends his free time surfing YouTube and watching old clips of NBA greats.

The 35-year-old continues to deserve his place among them.

Durant moved into 10th place on the NBA’s career scoring list on Friday night, passing Moses Malone in the second quarter of the Suns’ 119-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

“It’s a long journey to be up there and be associated with the greats,” Durant said. “It takes a lot of work, a lot of preparation and a lot of people helping me get to this point.”

Durant hit the mark by securing the baseline for two points with 50.3 seconds left before halftime. Durant needed 17 points to pass Malone – 1,003. his career.

Durant finished the game with 30 points, but shot 8 of 25 from the field – he was 0 of 10 in the second half. He increased his career total to 27,423. Malone had 27,409 in the NBA after starting his professional career with two seasons in the ABA.

Durant said Malone is one of the most underrated players in league history.

“As basketball players, I think it’s our job to learn the history of the game and who paved the way for us,” Durant said.

The 6-foot-2 Durant is a 13-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion who played for the SuperSonics/Thunder, Warriors, Nets and Suns. He played one season in college at Texas before being selected No. 2 overall in the 2007 NBA Draft at age 19.

He has played in the NBA for 17 seasons – he missed a full year with an Achilles tendon injury – and has averaged more than 27 points.

Durant is averaging 31.3 points, just shy of his career high of 32.0 ppg (achieved during his 2014 Kia ​​MVP campaign), while posting 51.8 FG%, 49.3 3P% and 89.6 FT% shooting splits. He passed Elvin Hayes for 11th on November 21 against the Blazers.

LeBron James leads the scoring list with 39,124 points and is the only other active player in the top 25. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,397) is second, followed by Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (33,643) and Michael Jordan (32,292) . , Dirk Nowitzki (31,560), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419), Shaquille O’Neal (28,596) and Carmelo Anthony (28,289).

Durant is ranked 13th on the combined NBA/ABA list, followed by former ABA stars Julius Erving at eighth (30,026), Malone at ninth (29,580) and Dan Issel at 12th (27,482).

Carmelo Anthony is next – at 28,289 – with Shaquille O’Neal not going far beyond that (28,596). If Durant maintains his health and current pace, Anthony should be within reach by the end of January, with O’Neal’s turn about ten games later.