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Durant reaches 29,000 career points and is on pace to reach 30,000

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Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant praised everyone but himself as he reflected on scoring 29,000 career points in a 114-102 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday at Footprint Center.

“I have to give credit to the people who have helped me since I was a kid and taught me the game,” Durant said. “Teammates who passed me the ball created screens for me. Coaches who designed games for me. When I do things like that, I tend to think about it a lot.”

With 29,010 points, Durant became just the eighth player in NBA history to reach this 29,000 milestone, joining LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain.

“I'm just grateful that I had such amazing people in my life that helped push me and lift me up when I needed it,” Durant continued. “Encouraged me. I had teammates and that only helped me develop my love for the game. I’m so grateful to them.”

Durant scored 31 points in Saturday's win, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Durant shot 4 of 8 from 3, also grabbed nine rebounds and had just one turnover in 39 minutes.

“I'm embarrassed to say I don't know how many people have reached that number, but I suspect it's a very small number. What a tribute to a great generational talent,” said Suns coach Mike Budenholzer. “I feel incredibly lucky to be around him every day. He just gets to great spots to shoot and score against a sometimes really great defense. Like some of his deep threes, his early threes. I thought he was great on the boards. He participated at both ends. Great night for him.”

Durant will look to add to that total in Monday's return game against the Los Angeles Lakers at 7 p.m. at the Footprint Center. The Lakers rallied from a 22-point deficit to stun the Suns in Los Angeles on Friday.

“He’s playing well,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said of Durant. “We try to make it difficult and he is one of the best players in the world. He came down and took advantage of a few of our mistakes, but some of his shots tonight were tough, but that’s what he does.”

So how long will it take for Durant to reach 30,000?

The seven players ahead of him all surpassed 30,000, with James reaching 40,000, becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

James and Durant are the only two active players in the all-time top 10.

Durant ranks ninth in the NBA with 28.7 points through three games this season after scoring consecutive 30 points on Friday against the Lakers and on Saturday against the Mavs.

He needs 990 points to reach 30,000.

If Durant stays healthy and averages 28.7 a night, he will hit 30,000 in the next 34-35 games.

Looking at the schedule and calendar, the Suns are in the first half of a five-game road trip that begins Jan. 14 in Atlanta and continues Jan. 16 in Washington.

It would be crazy if Durant reached 30,000 points against the Wizards in his hometown of Washington, DC

The Suns then play at Detroit on January 18th, at Cleveland on January 20th and finish the five-game trip at Brooklyn, his previous team, on January 22nd. The Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and several first-round picks to the Nets to get him.

This might be even crazier if Durant made history there.

Do you have any opinions on the current state of the suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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