When Kevin Durant made history last night by scoring 20,000 points, it was the typical kind of evening for a future NBA legend who has made scoring look easier than cat-fishing a blind man. He dropped 40 and with 1:41 remaining in the second quarter of the Warriors rare 125-106 loss to the LA Clippers (a night in which Lou Williams dropped a “50 piece nugget” on the defending champs), Durant scored his 25th point on a patented pull-up crossover middy jumper, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history at age 29 and 103 days to reach the milestone, accomplishing the feat 19 days before Kobe “Black Mamba” Bryant did it for the Lakers.
Only LeBron James has reached that mark quicker, doing it 17 days after his 28th birthday.
Golden State Warriors on Twitter
His 25th point of the night gave him 20,000 points for his career. Congrats Kevin Durant! #NBAVote https://t.co/KOSIrL5jkQ
Durant received a standing ovation and the JumboTron gave him props for his achievement. Both LeBron in 2003-04 and Durant in the 2007-08 season hit the NBA scene at age 19 and immediately established themselves as instant stars.
Of course, they had a head start on those 20,000 points because Kobe didnt enjoy the luxury of being immediately inserted into the starting rotation for a desperate franchise and made the No. 1 option, with total green light advantages, like LeBron and KD. Kobe came to a Lakers team that was guard heavy and then he had to suppress his game for Shaq until he grew into the best player in the game and won back-to-back titles without The Big Diesel.
Kobe is the offensive equal to any player to ever do it and is third all-time on the scoring charts, and thats after starting just seven games in his first two seasons. He was a victim of that old school NBA mentality which is almost totally gone now. Rookies come in and get busy immediately, even if they dont have the total package yet. See Lonzo Ball.
LeBron has less than 9,000 points to go to catch the most prolific scorer in history, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. If he can keep up his scoring pace for four to five more years, he can become the NBAs all-time scoring champ before the age of 40.
But KD is four years younger and recognized as the better, more talented scorer by most basketball heads.
Skip Bayless on Twitter
KD’s 20,000 points more impressive than LeBron’s. Took KD only 11 more games than LBJ. Plus, in 3 of his OKC seasons, Westbrook TOOK MORE SHOTS THAN KD. Pre-20,000, LBJ never had to deal with a Russ.
So hes probably in a better position to catch Kareem if he plays for another eight to ten years.
Kevin Durant is back!! talks Dubs’ loss to the Clippers, plus reaching 20,000 career points
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The journey towards that goal will provide memorable moments for fans along the way.
