Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant continues to climb the ladder.
Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers saw Durant climb to No. 8 on the NBA's all-time scoring list, passing Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal's 28,596 points.
Durant needed just nine points tonight to do so. He accomplished the feat in the third quarter:
At the beginning of the year, Durant sat on the outside of the top ten before passing Hakeem Olajuwon, Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone and Carmelo Anthony prior to tonight.
Durant now sits behind the following players:
- LeBron James (40,179)
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387)
- Karl Malone (36,928)
- Kobe Bryant (33,643)
- Michael Jordan (32,292)
- Dirk Nowitzki (31,560)
- Wilt Chamberlain (31,419)
“He’s one of the best to ever do it,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said after Durant passed Anthony for the No. 9 spot back in late February.
“It’s really special for me to be a part of these milestones for him because like I said, he’s one of the best scorers the game has ever seen. To see him pass the names that he’s passing is super impressive and I’m happy for him.”
Durant was the No. 2 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and is a two-time NBA champion (winning Finals MVP in both cases) with 13 NBA All-Star nods and one league MVP attached to his resume.
Entering tonight, Durant averaged 27.8 points per night with 6.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists to pair.
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