Kevin Durant Joins Historic Group of NBA Legends With Milestone 20-Point Night in Rockets Win

Kevin Durant’s place as one of the great scorers in basketball history is set in stone. That’s been clear for years at this point and the 2025–26 season served the NBA world a reminder when KD passed Dirk Nowitzki for sixth on the all-time scoring list. On Tuesday night, Durant hit another remarkable scoring milestone, and it puts him in truly historic company.

As the Rockets battled the Clippers in a Houston win, KD dropped 26 points on 8-for-22 shooting. It marked the 1,000th time Durant scored 20 points in an NBA game. Only three other players in NBA history have done that—LeBron James, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Fittingly Durant hit the milestone with a signature midrange jumper which showcases the buttery-smooth touch behind his Hall of Fame career.

For the 1,000th time in his career, Kevin Durant has scored 20+ PTS ⭐️

He joins LeBron James, Karl Malone, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players in NBA history to reach this mark! pic.twitter.com/0gC1AUzJeN
— NBA (@NBA) February 11, 2026

Durant’s overarching legacy can be complicated depending on who you ask but his spot as perhaps the best scorer of the 21st century is impossible to argue. The man gets buckets, no two ways about it. Fans will have plenty of opinions about his decision to join the Warriors and how his career unfolded in the years following but there is no denying Durant is historically great at putting the ball in the hoop.

His most recent achievements reflect his remarkable longevity, too. To score 20 points in 1,000 games you have to play 1,000 games—over 10 full NBA seasons. For Durant to do so despite missing nearly two full years of his NBA career with injuries shows just how talented he is. It’s the same with his spot on the all-time scoring list. The consistency and endurance is nothing short of amazing.

On the season Durant is averaging 25.9 points per game in Houston and the Rockets figure to be a strong contender in this year’s championship landscape. The 37-year-old superstar hasn’t fallen off yet—that much is clear.

How Kevin Durant can make history again this season

Durant has enjoyed two huge milestones in 2025–26 between moving up on the all-time scoring list and achieving 1,000 games of 20-plus points. He’s clearly still going strong. Is there any other history Durant can make this year?

Right now it looks like he has a great shot at passing Nowitzki again on an all-time list, this time for field goals made. After Tuesday night’s showing KD is at 10,987 field goals for his career— 182 behind Nowitzki. The Rockets star is currently averaging 9.1 field goals made per game. Assuming he keeps making shots at that clip Durant will need 20 or so games to claim the ninth spot on the all-time field goals made leaderboard, which is very doable with 30 games remaining in the regular season.

Otherwise the closest milestone for the veteran scorer is ninth place on the all-time three-point makes list. He moved up to 10th this year and is 112 three-pointers away from passing Paul George. Durant averages 2.3 three-pointers per game and there are 30 games remaining in the season. Unless he suddenly doubles his three-point makes per game Durant will have to wait until next season to pass PG-13, but it won’t take long if he remains prolific beyond the arc over the rest of this campaign.

It’s been a historic year for Durant and could get even better depending on how he plays down the stretch of his 20th NBA season.

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