Kobe Bryant sits fourth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 33,643 career points. Kevin Durant, who passed Michael Jordan for fifth all-time on Saturday, now trails the Los Angeles Lakers legend by roughly 1,349 points.
Durant’s milestone moment came on a corner 3-pointer in the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat, pushing his career total to 32,294 and surpassing Jordan’s 32,292. The Houston Rockets celebrated the achievement before Amen Thompson’s buzzer-beating tip-in sealed a 123-122 win. When Durant spoke to reporters afterward, he made clear his climb isn’t over: “I’ve got more to go, baby.”
Kevin Durant’s Path to Catching Kobe Bryant
The math is straightforward. Durant, averaging 25.7 points per game this season at 37 years old, would need to maintain that production deep into the 2026-27 campaign to surpass Bryant’s total. That timeline assumes durability in a body that has already absorbed nearly two decades of NBA basketball and multiple significant injuries.
In addition to Jorda, Durant climbed past Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki (31,560) this season, becoming the fourth player in league history to record 1,000 career 20-point games along the way. The pace has been relentless.
However, Bryant represents something different on this list. His 33,643 points came in 20 seasons, all with the Lakers. He never played for another franchise, so every bucket counted toward the same column.
Bryant retired on April 13, 2016, scoring 60 points against the Utah Jazz in his final game. He took 50 shots that night, the most by any player in over 30 seasons at the time, and the Lakers erased a 15-point deficit to win 101-96. No player in NBA history had ever scored more points in a final game. He walked off as the third-leading scorer in league history, a position LeBron James has since pushed to fourth.
Durant’s path to this point has looked nothing like Bryant’s. He started in Seattle, moved to Oklahoma City, won championships in Golden State, played in Brooklyn, spent time in Phoenix, and now anchors Houston’s playoff push. The totals accumulate the same way, but Durant’s points have come across five different franchises.
What the NBA’s Scoring Top-5 Looks Like Now
The current all-time scoring leaderboard reads: James (43,241), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Bryant (33,643), and Durant (32,294), with Jordan now sitting at No. 6 with 32,292.
Durant acknowledged what it means to pass Jordan, calling him an “inspiration” who “shaped the game for me.”
“MJ is in a world of his own,” Durant said. “A planet, a galaxy of his own. Somebody that I look up to and respect.”
Rockets coach Ime Udoka put the moment in perspective without letting Durant minimize it. “Passing a name like Michael Jordan is obviously a huge accomplishment and we celebrated that with him,” Udoka said. “He’ll have some more to chop off next.”
Bryant’s spot at No. 4 has held since James passed him in January 2020. For nearly a decade before that, Bryant sat at No. 3 behind only Abdul-Jabbar and Malone. His position represents a scoring legacy built on volume, longevity, and signature moments. His 81-point game against Toronto in January 2006 stood as the second-highest single-game total in NBA history until Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game in March 2026. He scored 60 or more points on six different occasions.
Durant, shooting 51.7% from the field this season, has been one of the most efficient volume scorers the league has ever seen. His 27.2 career scoring average ranks fourth all-time (trailing only Jordan, Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor). If he plays two more healthy seasons at his current production level, Bryant’s total is within reach, and so is Malone’s 36,928 points.
The question is whether Durant’s body cooperates. He turns 38 in September. The Rockets are currently the fourth seed in the Western Conference at 43-27, and Durant is chasing something beyond individual milestones. A championship in Houston would reshape his legacy more than any spot on the scoring list. Still, there’s no doubt Durant wants to climb into the top-three all-time, and he has Bryant and Malone in his sights.
