Ever since his arrival in the NBA, Kevin Durant has shown brilliant ball-handling efficiency as well as marvelous scoring skills which earned him a top-tier spot in the NBA’s all-time leading scorers’ list. The 14-time All Star has remained a pivotal piece in the Suns set-up.
While many have argued over the greatness of LeBron James and Stephen Curry in the modern era, Kevin Durant has remained in the mix without getting recognized as the top dog of the game. But now a former NBA Champion has opened up to vouch for KD’s tremendous sharpshooting. The legend in question is none other than Paul Pierce.
Paul Pierce lavishes praise on Kevin Durant
Paul Pierce made a bold statement about Kevin Durant claiming that he could have achieved the 40k milestone like LeBron James keeping one condition in mind.
While speaking about Durant’s potential, the former NBA player said, “What is he, 35 right now? He would’ve been one that would’ve been close to getting 40k points too if he never got hurt. He’s going to play into 40 too. He’s going to play into his 40s.”
Pierce praised the Phoenix Suns forward for his high caliber and stated that he could have bagged 40,000 points himself had he not been suffering from injuries in various career points.
Earlier in a podcast, Pierce had placed Durant, whom he considers “one of the greatest scorers,” over the Lakers legend in his list saying, “I put him at one point the best player in the league over LeBron when he was in Golden State. And so, my expectation of him is a little higher.”
LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a championship win in the same season when Durant joined the Golden State Warriors. In the next two seasons, Durant won the championship title consecutively being the key player in both the finals with his sharpshooting abilities.
Kevin Durant’s rank on NBA all-time leading scores list
Kevin Durant has been phenomenal since his rookie year, winning the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy. Since then, he has never averaged less than 25 points building his way up to the top ten of the NBA leading scorers’ list.
The 2-time NBA champion is in the 8th position of the list, just 9 points shy from Shaquille O’Neal’s 28,596 total career points. Durant might surpass Shaq by playing his 1048th game on Wednesday against the Sixers.
Last season he climbed up to the 13th spot by putting huge numbers on the scoreboard and averaging 29.1 per game and to the 11th a couple months ago. His high-end numbers have been acknowledged as he was awarded the NBA scoring champion title on four separate occasions.
Kevin Durant’s unfortunate injuries have held him from adding massive numbers to his name, otherwise, from judging his scoring abilities like Paul Pierce said, the Suns forward might have even crossed the 40K points.
Nevertheless, the 35-year-old is averaging 27.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.2 blocks while shooting at 52.4% from the floor and 41.9% from the 3-point range this season.
While the Suns have not been the best of watches this season, they’re still in the playoffs contention. If the Suns go on to win the big one this season with their Big 3 of Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker then surely KD will have a stronger stake in the conversation of the NBA’s finest of this generation.
