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Kevin Durant has passed Michael Jordan on the NBA all-time scoring list, with the NBA announcing on March 21 that the Houston Rockets star in fifth place at 32,293 career points. That moved Durant ahead of Jordan’s 32,292 and into another historic tier as one of the league’s greatest scorers ever. The timing mattered because Durant entered Saturday needing 26 points to pass Jordan, making the milestone one of the night’s biggest storylines for Houston.
Durant scored 27 as the Houston Rockets defeated the Miami Heat 123-122 on March 21.
This was not an out-of-nowhere benchmark. NBA.com had been tracking Durant’s climb all week, first noting he was 69 points away on March 18, then 51 away entering Friday against Atlanta, and finally 26 away entering Saturday’s game against the Miami Heat.
Key Points
- Kevin Durant moved to No. 5 on the NBA’s all-time regular-season scoring list.
- Durant passed Michael Jordan by reaching 32,293 career points.
- Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant are now ahead of him, according to the NBA graphic shared Saturday night.
Kevin Durant Michael Jordan all-time scoring list: What changed Saturday?
What changed is simple: Durant cleared Jordan’s career total and officially took over fifth place. NBA.com had framed the chase as a live milestone heading into the weekend, and the user-shared NBA Communications repost showed the updated top-10 order with Durant now above Jordan.
That matters because Jordan’s No. 5 spot has long carried symbolic weight. Passing him does not settle any GOAT debates, but it does put Durant in a scoring class very few players have ever reached. The updated top five now reads LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant and Durant. The next names behind him on the NBA graphic are Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain, James Harden and Shaquille O’Neal.
Kevin Durant Stats and what this means for the Rockets and Durant’s place in history
For Houston, the milestone is more than a ceremonial note. The Rockets are in the middle of a playoff push, and NBA.com noted they entered this stretch battling near the top half of the West, with seeding still in play. That gave Durant’s scoring chase a real-time competitive backdrop rather than an empty late-season achievement.
For Durant, this is one of the strongest résumé boosters still available at this stage of his career. He is already a two-time Finals MVP, a former MVP and one of the most efficient volume scorers the league has seen. Moving past Jordan into fifth adds another hard-number argument to his historical standing. The next climb, at least on the NBA graphic, would be chasing Kobe Bryant’s 33,643 for fourth. That is a much larger gap, but Durant has already shown this season he is still moving steadily up the ladder.
For his career, Durant holds averages of 27.1 points per game. This season, he’s average 25.7 points per game.
Why today’s Kevin Durant Michael Jordan news hit so hard
Part of the reason this landed the way it did is the name involved. Jordan is still the measuring stick for many fans, so any player moving past him in a major statistical category will immediately generate attention. The other reason is that the NBA itself had been spotlighting the chase in advance, which turned Saturday into an appointment-viewing history watch.
That combination — Jordan’s stature, Durant’s longevity and the Rockets’ playoff context — is why this became major NBA news instead of just another stat update.
Erik Anderson is an award-winning sports journalist covering the NBA, MLB and NFL for Heavy.com. He also focuses on the trading card market. His work has appeared in nationally-recognized outlets including The New York Times, Associated Press , USA Today, and ESPN. More about Erik Anderson
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