Kevin Durant continues to climb the NBA’s all-time scoring list, but his latest milestone has sparked a much bigger debate, one that now involves Michael Jordan and the legacy of the 1990s Chicago Bulls.
After Durant dropped 27 points in a 123-122 win for the Houston Rockets on Saturday, he officially moved past Jordan for fifth on the league’s all-time scoring list. Jordan finished his career with 32,292 points, while Durant has now pushed ahead with 32,364 total career points so far.
The achievement drew reactions across the basketball world, including from Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who used the moment to revisit a long-standing debate involving Jordan.
Isiah Thomas Says Kevin Durant Could Replicate Michael Jordan’s Bulls Success
Speaking on Run It Back, Thomas made a bold claim about how Durant would have fared if placed into Jordan’s role during the Bulls’ dynasty years.
“I said to Kevin Durant, ‘Hey if you would have played back in our era and they put you in the triple post at that mid-post area, and they took Michael Jordan out and you played with (Scottie) Pippen and you played with (Toni) Kukoch and you got to run to the mid-post, sh*t,'” Thomas said. “Would he have won six championships? Absolutely.”
“With all of them around him and he gets to post up in the mid-range and that ball is targeted to him every night and he’s getting up 25, 30 attempts, yeah, he can do the same thing.”
It’s a statement that directly challenges the idea that Jordan’s six championships were entirely irreplaceable.
Thomas, who played 13 seasons from 1981 to 1994, had a front-row seat to Jordan’s rise. His “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons were one of the Bulls’ biggest obstacles, with the two teams facing off in four consecutive playoff series from 1988 to 1991, a rivalry that became one of the most physical in league history.
The Pistons won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 before Jordan and the Bulls broke through in 1991, eliminating the defending champions en route to the first of six championships.
Thomas’ perspective has often been shaped by that history. His rivalry with Jordan has long been discussed as a possible factor behind his exclusion from the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team,” despite his credentials as one of the league’s elite guards at the time.
This also isn’t the first time Thomas has questioned how much of the Bulls’ success was tied solely to Jordan.
Back in 2024, he responded to a fan on social media who credited the Bulls’ dynasty largely to the franchise’s decision to draft Jordan after the Portland Trail Blazers passed on him. Thomas pushed back on that idea, stating,
“I disagree. Pippen and Kukoc were good enough at that time to win one, maybe two, definitely not six.”
While Thomas acknowledges Jordan as the driving force behind the six championships, he also believes the supporting cast, particularly Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc, was strong enough to sustain a level of success with another elite scorer.
In any case, Durant’s scoring milestone has now added fuel to that argument. By surpassing Jordan on the all-time list and continuing to produce at an elite level deep into his career, Durant has strengthened his case as one of the most complete scorers the league has ever seen. According to Thomas, that skillset would have translated seamlessly into the Bulls’ system.
