Kevin Durant Passes Michael Jordan for Fifth on NBA’s All-Time Scoring List

Kevin Durant continued his climb up the NBA’s all-time scoring leaderboard on Saturday, and passed a legend in the process.

In scoring his 26th (and 27th) point against the Heat on Saturday night, Durant officially passed Michael Jordan for fifth on the all-time scoring list; the player many see as the GOAT finished his tremendous career with 32,292 points scored despite missing a large chunk of games in the middle of his career. Durant scored the go-ahead bucket with a corner three off of a Reed Sheppard assist to push the Rockets’ lead to 117–109, and push past Jordan in the record books.

KEVIN DURANT PASSES MICHAEL JORDAN ON THE ALL TIME SCORING LIST pic.twitter.com/E2dbYwM6hN
— Rockets Clips (@Rockets_Clips) March 22, 2026

But now KD is in front of him, a true landmark moment for the superstar scorer’s career. Earlier this year Durant passed Dirk Nowitzki on the all-time scoring list and kept up a good enough pace to pass Jordan mere months later. He also became the fourth player in NBA history to record 1,000 20-point games. It’s been a quality season of accolades for Durant so far.

On the year Durant is averaging 25.7 points per game, an impressive feat for his age-37 season. With LeBron James breaking the NBA’s regular season games played record on Saturday as well it’s been a great stretch for the older legends in today’s league.

KD’s sights are now set on Kobe Bryant’s spot on the all-time scoring list. The Lakers’ legend finished his career with 33,643 points scored. That puts Durant about 1,300 points behind him, which obviously guarantees he will not be passing Bryant this season. However, if Durant carries this level of production into next season he could pass Kobe by the midpoint of 2026–27.

A historic day for Durant and another reminder he’s one of the great scorers the NBA has ever had the pleasure of watching.

Durant passes “inspiration” Jordan on all-time scoring list

This milestone has been a long time coming for Durant. As such he recently did an interview with The Athletic in which he discussed how he was driven to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents the same way MJ did for all those years. In the process Durant called Jordan his “inspiration.”

“Jordan has always been my inspiration,” Durant said to Kelly Iko. “There’s a reason why I wanted to be able to knock down those shots. He was always unstoppable, but when he became a midrange maestro, you never knew how he would attack you. You never knew what MJ was going to do. He scared defenders every night, and I wanted to put that same kind of fear in the defender who’s guarding me.”

It is safe to say that his mission was accomplished. Durant is one of the deadliest jump-shooters to ever grace the NBA floor and defenders have proclaimed for years there is no really stopping him—you just have to hope he misses. Such is the nature of the beast when a player nearly seven feet tall with a wingspan to match can rise up and swish any shot in the half court.

A well-earned honor for Durant, and one that accurately reflects his standing in the history of basketball.