Kevin Durant passes Allen Iverson for No. 25 on all-time career points list

Kevin Durant’s spectacular start to the season has him locked in a battle with Stephen Curry atop the scoring leaderboard. It’s also elevated him past another NBA legend on the career leaderboard, with a first-quarter pullup on the right wing boosting Durant beyond the reach of Allen Iverson, where he claims No. 25 on the all-time points list with 24,369.

He now trails Ray Allen (24,505), and — at the current clip of 28.5 ppg entering Wednesday’s action — should surpass the sharpshooter within five games or so; Patrick Ewing (24,815) could follow 10-15 games after that.

Durant grew up in the Washington, D.C., area looking up to Allen Iverson as he led Georgetown to back-to-back trips to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Now the Nets forward is looking down at the Hall of Famer from the top 25 of the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

“Iverson, he was in the Pantheon for me. One of those guys I emulated every time I went outside,” Durant said on Wednesday night after surpassing Iverson’s career total and leading Brooklyn to a 123-104 victory over the Boston Celtics.

“To pass him on the list, to end up there with some of the greats on that list is incredible,” said Durant, who entered the night with 24,367 points, one behind Iverson, and passed him on a jumper in the first two minutes. “I’ve just got to keep going.”

NBA Leaders All-Time Career Points Scored
RANK PLAYER GAMES PLAYED POINTS SCORED
1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1,560 38,387
2 Karl Malone 1,476 36,928
3 LeBron James 1,318 35,549*
4 Kobe Bryant 1,346 33,643
5 Michael Jordan 1,072 32,292
6 Dirk Nowitzki 1,522 31,560
7 Wilt Chamberlain 1,045 31,419
8 Shaquille O’Neal 1,207 28,596
9 Carmelo Anthony 1,210 27,656*
10 Moses Malone 1,329 27,409
11 Elvin Hayes 1,303 27,313
12 Hakeem Olajuwon 1,238 26,946
13 Oscar Robertson 1,040 26,710
14 Dominique Wilkins 1,074 26,668
15 Tim Duncan 1,392 26,496
16 Paul Pierce 1,343 26,397
17 John Havlicek 1,270 26,395
18 Kevin Garnett 1,462 26,071
19 Vince Carter 1,541 25,728
20 Alex English 1,193 25,613
21 Reggie Miller 1,389 25,279
22 Jerry West 932 25,192
23 Patrick Ewing 1,183 24,815
24 Ray Allen 1,300 24,505
25 KEVIN DURANT 902 24,369
26 Allen Iverson 914 24,368
* = Active

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.