Kevin Durant (32,294 career points after his 27-point game last night against the Heat) surpassed Michael Jordan (32,292) and is now fifth all-time behind LeBron James (43,241), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), and Kobe Bryant (33,643) on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Subsequently, Durant sat down with Rich Kleiman, his longtime manager and business partner, to discuss his opinions about the past, present, and future of basketball.
Among several things they spoke about, one of the questions they discussed about the future of the game was who among the active players Durant thinks can surpass his scoring records.
Kleiman said that Durant has now set the standard in such a way that in 20 years someone could be surpassing his record. Durant hopes to have built that impact on the future generation of players.
“Sometime sooner than that,” said Durant. Kleiman’s first guess was Anthony Edwards. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Sooner than that.”
“There are a lot of guys like Luka who are on the way. They are hitting those marks that I hit at that time. LeBron hit, Kobe hit at that age,” the Rockets’ veteran further added.
“And I just hope that moment, especially for them, like it is for me, passing the grace that I looked up to or watched when I was younger. You know what I’m saying? I hope I left that impact on the game in that way,” Durant concluded.
The Rockets’ veteran has averaged 27.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists in 1,190 games played in the regular season. He has shot 50.1% from the field and 39.1% from behind the three-point line throughout his career.
Luka Doncic is 149 points away from reaching the 15,000 career points mark (14,851 points), less than a decade into his career. If he plays for nearly two decades like Durant has, he is certainly going to break the veteran superstar’s record.
The Lakers’ superstar has averaged 29.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 8.2 assists over 509 games in the regular season. He shot 46.9% from the field and 35.2% from the three-point range during this time.
Doncic has hilariously said that he will not be in the league at age 41 like LeBron James is, but considering that he is currently 27 years old, even another 10 years are enough for him to knock on the door of Durant’s record, if not surpass it at least.
Similarly, Anthony Edwards, in January 2026, surpassed the 10,000 points mark for his career and is currently at 10,807 points. Having played two fewer seasons than Doncic, Durant believes Edwards is also on track to average similar numbers if they play as long as he has in the league.
The Timberwolves’ star has averaged 24.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists over 439 games in the regular season. He shot 45.3% from the floor and 37.0% from beyond the arc over that span.
I agree with Durant, as Doncic and Edwards are two of the best young prolific scorers in the league who can turn on their heaters at will on the court.
But it all comes down to whether these two players commit nearly two decades of their lives to playing basketball at a high-level, as Durant has in his career, to determine if they can actually surpass his record.
