Kevin Durant and the march against 30,000 points: ‘consistency of greatness’

At Halloween Night in 2007, a 19-year-old rookie from the District of Columbia took a rejection pass in the transition. Kevin Durant dribbled once and pushed his left leg towards the edge. The shot did not fall, but Durant was buried.

Durant missed the first free throw, but he made the second. “And there’s his first NBA point scored on the line,” TV -Station Mike Tirico told an ESPN -Public. “I think there will be a few more after that.”

A few more and then some. Over the next 17-Plus years, Durant established himself as an elite scorer and collected one milestone after another. On Tuesday night against Memphis Grizzlies, he passed 30,000 career points with two free throw late in the third quarter, Sacred Ground, which only seven other NBA players have reached.

“There’s what’s 5,000 billionaires in the world?” Said Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, maybe a little loud in his estimates. “This is a more exclusive club.”

Kevin Durant: 30k Career Point.@Kdtrey5 just becomes the eighth player in @Nba HISTORY TO REGISTER 30,000 CAREER POINTS! pic.twitter.com/8awan1gbo6

– Phoenix Suns (@suns) February 12, 2025

Wilt Chamberlain was the first member to score his 30,000. Point when Phoenix Suns Big Man Neal Walk-Objective Lot a shot near the edge in 1972. (“Is it one or night.) Since then, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James followed. Julius Erving also scored 30,000 points, but 11,662 came in ABA.

“I’ve always been inspired by the greatness,” Durant said of Phoenix Suns’ 119-112 loss to Memphis. “I wanted to reach their level. … I’ve been inspired by these guys and being in their company is just surreal.

“I just want to do things the right way,” he said. “I want to come to work every day, put my best foot forward .. … I have accumulated some accolades, but for the most part I just try to maximize myself every day.”

In his third season with Suns, Durant was able to reflect after Tuesday’s games, but did not want to discuss the milestone leading up to the big night, preferring to wait until he actually got there. He has said he does not intend to pursue a particular price or recognition. He follows a simple mindset instead: Just do more. Continue to work and see where it takes you.

It has taken him miles.

“What’s he, 26?” The Hall of Fame Forward Spencer Haywood said, jokingly, during the summer.

No, he just plays like that. Durant’s hair has thin; His production has not done so. At 36, his number and efficiency positively compares with his best seasons. The 6-foot-10 tip still shoots a fading jumper that remains almost impossible to contest. Still crosses over defenders and ends at the edge. Still pulling double teams leading to open shots to others.

“Just the consistency of greatness right there, ” said Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. “You know, year after year and scored 25-plus with a very effective scoring frequency from all levels.”

Durant has been criticized for ring hunting and leaving Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 and signed with Golden State, where he won two titles. His leadership has been questioned, especially under Stints with Brooklyn and Phoenix. But few NBA players are more respected throughout the league.

Minnesota Timberwolves Hotshot Anthony Edwards have called Durant his favorite player ever. Milwaukee Bucks Frem Kyle Kuzma Bar No. 35 in high school because of Durant. He grew up watching his games and studied his highlight videos on YouTube. When asked what he was trying to take from Durant, Kuzma simply said, “s – t, everything.”

Boston Celtics Star Jayson Tatum did the same.

“K is a big friend of me, someone that I looked up to for a long time when I grew up and modeled some of my game after,” Tatum said. “… I just can’t say good things about what he has done for this game and the generation he’s inspired that followed him.”

Clippers star James Harden collaborated with Durant for Harden’s first three seasons in Oklahoma City and later played with him in Brooklyn. He said Durant showed him at an early age what it meant to work.

“We see a lot of guys coming in this league, which is very, very talented, but they do not put the work in,” said Harden, who even closes at 27,000 career points. “They do not maximize their skills and he is one of those guys. I saw him when I first became a draft, how he put the work into, how each rep is the same and he still does. “

Added Devin Booker, a teammate of Durants in Phoenix: “There are many people going through phases where they are in and then they are out. You know with him that you get it every time he gets on the floor. It’s inspiring to be nearby. “

The march has not come without adversity. In Games 5 in the NBA final in 2019, Durant, who returned from a veal strain, dribbled between his legs, by driving to the left. He heard a pop. When he fell to court, he saw his basketball career Flash for his eyes. In fear of the worst, Durant wondered if his career – at least as he knew it – was about to end.

A broken right Achilles sae robbed him of the 2019-20 season. And yet, Durant somehow returned as a more effective goal scorer. For 12 seasons before the injury, Durant shot 49.3 percent from the track and 38.1 from 3-point reach. In the four-Plus seasons since his return he has shot 53.1 percent off the field and 40.8 percent from 3rd scoring average has risen from 27 to 28 points.

“He’s still getting better at his age,” said Dallas -Guard Kyrie Irving, who played with Durant in Brooklyn.

Miami Heat Assistant Coach Caron Butler has a rare perspective. He played with Bryant in the 2004-05 season and spent later time with Durant in Oklahoma City. Butler, who was asked to compare the two scorers, said that both were very skilled and both dominated midrange.

“The only thing I wanted to say with Kobe was his relentless speed and agility from midrange, similar to Michael Jordan,” Butler said. “But with KD he used the 3-pointer as more of a weapon and he is able to have the benefit every night because he has played against (Power Forwards) and (centers).”

NBAS Eight 30,000-Point Club members have scored the defining points in many ways. Apart from Chamberlain and the target ending peel, Abdul-Jabbar and Jordan reached the milestone by the bad line. Malone put back her own miss. Nowitzki sweated a baseline jumper. Bryant scored in the field. James spiked a pull-up jumper.

On Tuesday night, Durant started off a slow start, but he quickly warmed up and scored 17 points in the second quarter. Late in the third quarter he drove, got the bucket and pulled a mistake and put him right outside the door of 30,000. Almost three minutes later he drove into the field and was buried by Brandon Clarke. Durant made the first one. Memphis called timeout. He made the other and reached the milestone.

“I joked with my teammates about missing out on the free throw so I could actually get a field goal,” he said.

Durant ended with a team high 34 points. Greatness usually rusts over time. Durant has not yet reached this point.

“I still have a lot of room to grow,” he said. “It’s the crazy part of it.”

“Getting to share the court with him was certainly special, but being able to see as an observer, as a competitor, like a friend of him, I am proud of him,” Irving said. “… If he can take this individual recognition under the belt and celebrate, I wish it for him. He deserves it. He has given our culture of basketball a lot of his time, much of his sweat. “

Booker was asked if there was part of Durant’s games that he wanted to integrate into his own. The Phoenix Guard knew better. For him, Durant’s mixture of size, shooting touch and work ethic is unmatched.

“You quickly understand that he is just 1 in 1,” Booker said. “There is no other player who has ever done what he does and there will not be one again.”

– The Athletic‘S James Jackson, Eric Nehm, Law Murray, Jay King and Christian Clark contributed.

(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)