Kevin Durant made some major NBA history during the Houston Rockets’ 119-110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.
With his point production in the contest, Durant moved into sixth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, passing Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki in the process. Nowitzki scored 31,560 points over the course of his career. Durant now has 31,562, and counting.
HISTORY MADE.
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 19, 2026
With this bucket, @KDTrey5 passes Dirk Nowitzki to advance to 6th all-time in NBA scoring
Another milestone in the books. Pic.twitter.com/sS1b7sFLXL
After the game, Durant reflected on the accomplishment while paying respect to the player he passed in the history books.
"To be up there with Dirk, somebody I looked up to, I idolized, I competed against," Durant said. "We had some great battles. He always was supportive of my career and my game. So, you know to be up there with a legend like that, it's just insane. And be right under Michael Jordan, it's crazy man.
"I want to continue to keep stacking, keep climbing up the charts, just see how I finish. It's been amazing so far."
Now, only five players have ever scored more points than Durant in the NBA. Those five players are LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
Durant now needs just 731 points to pass Jordan to move into the top five on the all-time scoring list – a fitting place to be for one of the best scorers we’ve ever seen.
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