Kevin Durant did not hesitate when the topic came up. He made a direct claim. If Michael Jordan had never stepped away from the game, he would have been the first player to reach 40,000 points, not LeBron James. In the article by Michael Lee of The Ringer, Durant said:
“He could’ve played past 40, too. I would say MJ took off four to five years combined. You give him 300 more games of 30 points a night. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s what he averaged—30! I don’t want to take that away from him when I pass him. I think that’s key for any historian to know that about MJ. It’s cool to still be in that same realm as him, but he’s more than a 32,000-point scorer to me.”
Durant broke it down in simple math. Jordan averaged 30 points per game for his career. That is not a peak number. That is his career average. Durant pointed out that Jordan missed roughly four to five full seasons when you combine his retirements and injury setbacks. That is a huge gap.
Now apply the numbers. If Jordan played 300 more games at that same 30-point average, that adds around 9,000 points. Add that to his career total of 32,292, and you land at 41,292 points. That clears the 40K mark easily.
Durant’s point is not about rewriting history for the sake of it. It is about context. Jordan’s total looks smaller next to LeBron’s because of time missed, not because of scoring ability. He is making that clear. LeBron became the first player to cross 40,000 because he never stopped playing. Season after season, no breaks, no early exits. That consistency allowed him to stack numbers in a way no one else has.
Durant has spoken about this before. On the Mind the Game podcast, he hinted at the same contrast. Jordan stepped away from basketball, even trying baseball in between. LeBron stayed locked in for over two decades without leaving the game. That difference keeps coming up.
Durant also added another layer in the same interview. He said Jordan reached a point where he got tired of the game, needed space, and chose to step away. LeBron likely felt similar pressure at times, but handled it differently by continuing to play through it.
Different choices, different outcomes.
The timing of this conversation is not random. Durant is now just 68 points away from passing Jordan on the all-time scoring list. That moment forces comparisons. It brings up what totals mean and how they were built.
Right now, in Year 19 with the Houston Rockets, Durant is still producing at an elite level. He is averaging 25.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists while shooting 51.4% from the field and 40.2% from three. That level of efficiency this deep into a career shows how much longevity matters.
He is still adding to his total. Durant’s argument does not diminish LeBron. It highlights what Jordan might have reached under different circumstances. One player paused his career at key moments. The other kept going without stopping.
If Jordan had stayed on the floor for those missing years, the record books would likely look different today. The 40,000-point club might have started with him. That is the case Durant is making.
