Kevin Durant became the 23rd player in NBA history to join the 25,000-point club in Brooklyn’s 126–120 loss in Boston against the Celtics on Sunday.
After the game, Durant was asked about joining the elite scoring club.
“It’s pretty cool. I should be at 30 [thousand] right now, to be honest. But it’s cool, it’s cool to reach that milestone and be amongst the greats. And I just got to keep pushing and keep going and see where I end up,” Durant said.
Durant, of course, is referencing his recent injury history, which most notably includes the torn right Achilles that he suffered in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals—his final game with the Warriors.
Durant left the Warriors later that summer in free agency and teamed up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn with the Nets. KD missed the entirety of the 2019–20 campaign due to the injury but has come back with a vengeance.
Last season, in his first full year removed from the Achilles injury, Durant averaged 26.9 points per game on 53.7% shooting from the floor. This year, Durant has upped his scoring average to 29.3 points per game on 51.9% shooting.
If Durant finishes the season at his current scoring pace, it would be the third-highest scoring mark of his career, and his best scoring output for a season since averaging 32.0 points per game in 2013–14 with the Thunder.
The Nets are now 32–33 on the season after Sunday’s loss, and hold the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, the Nets would be a participant in the play-in tournament for the conference’s final two playoff spots.
