The Phoenix Suns hit the reset button this offseason and sent 15-time All-Star forward Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in an NBA-record seven-team deal.
The Suns have turned the page from the Durant era and enjoyed surprising success over the first month and change of the 2025-26 campaign, but they ran into their old centerpiece again Friday night in Houston.
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And with a 10-foot jumper in the first quarter of a 117-98 win, the 37-year-old reached the latest milestone of his illustrious, 19-year career. Durant, a four-time NBA scoring champion, needed just four points to become the eighth player in league history to score 31,000 career points.
That’s rare air also inhabited by LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain.
Granted that’s the same group Durant accompanied when he cleared the 30,000-point threshold in February last season, but that list of names remains incredibly impressive.
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It’s not out of the question Durant passes Jordan’s mark of 32,292 career points sometime this season. He’ll need to stay healthy, but if he accomplishes that feat, he’ll move up to fifth on the leaderboard, first jumping Chamberlain (31,419) and Nowitzki (31,560).
James, in his NBA-record 23rd season at 40 years old, leads the pack, and it’s not particularly close. He’s got 42,268 points to his name, 3,881 more than Abdul-Jabbar, who is second all-time.
Durant came into the Friday night matchup averaging 25 points per game in his first season with the Rockets while shooting 49.3% from the field, including 37% from beyond the arc.
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Through his first 17 games with the team, he had finished with 20 or more points 14 times, reaching or eclipsing the 30-point barrier on six occasions.
He’s thriving after signing a two-year extension with Houston reportedly worth $90 million this offseason. The Rockets could very well be the fifth and final franchise the two-time NBA champion and one-time league MVP suits up for in a prolific pro career that started in 2007.
Durant scored the bulk of his points with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were the Seattle SuperSonics when he was drafted No. 2 overall out of Texas.
He won a pair of rings with the Golden State Warriors. Since, he’s starred for the Brooklyn Nets, Suns and now the Rockets.
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Although the success of Durant’s teams has ebbed and flowed, his scoring has been a constant in an ever-changing NBA landscape.
He reminded everyone of his age-defying consistency with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting Friday against the Suns while adding another notch to a star-studded scoring belt.
