Wilt Chamberlain Next After Kevin Durant Passes Shaquille O'Neal On Scoring List
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant passed one great center Wednesday night.
In a couple years, he will likely jump another.
Durant moved to No. 8 on the NBA's career scoring list after scoring 22 points in a victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. He now has 28,610, leaping Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal.
“I’m grateful to be in the category with some of the greatest,” Durant said. “We all know what Shaq meant to the game of basketball. So to be up there with him is a major, major honor in my opinion.”
Even O'Neal offered his congratulations while speaking on TNT's Inside the NBA.
“First of all, I want to say congratulations for passing me to become eighth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, well deserved. But you know it doesn’t stop here. I probably see you at—let’s see if you can get to No. 1,” O’Neal said “Congratulations, brother, job well done. I knew it was gonna get done, if anybody was going to pass me, it was definitely going to be you.”
At 35, Durant has shown no signs of slowing down. He has a chance of surpassing the great Wilt Chamberlain if he stays healthy the next two seasons. Durant trails Chamberlain by only 2,809 points.
He is averaging almost 28 points in his 17th season. He clearly has the opportunity to jump Chamberlain and Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki in the 2026-27 season. There's even a shot at No. 5 Michael Jordan (32,292).
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com