KD passes MJ on the NBA scoring list and reflects on the milestone, consistency, and legacy in a candid conversation for Boardroom Talks.
On a quiet night late in his career, with the rhythm of a season already deep in its grind, Kevin Durant squared up for another jumper with the same smooth motion basketball fans have watched for nearly two decades. The ball rose high, spun softly, and dropped through the net like it had thousands of times before, but each bucket now carries extra weight. Every point nudged him closer to Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, with Durant finally passing him on Saturday night against the Miami Heat.
Durant sat down with Rich Kleiman for a special episode of Boardroom Talks to reflect on what it means to pass someone he’s looked up to his entire life.
“It’s cool because it speaks to how long I’ve been around and how consistent I’ve been as a player,” Durant said. “It’s cool to know that the formula works for you to be around for so long. But at the end of the day, it’s really just another milestone that I’ll hit, and I just want to keep going and see where I end up. But passing guys is just always cool to be in that same conversation as them more than anything.”
Durant’s journey to this moment didn’t begin in packed arenas or under championship banners. It started in the gyms of Prince George’s County, Maryland, where a skinny kid with impossibly long arms learned that scoring wasn’t just about strength, it was about feel. Anyone who knows basketball noticed early that Durant didn’t shoot like other players his size. He glided across the floor, rose over defenders, and released the ball from a height few could contest.
By the time he arrived in the NBA in 2007, the league had seen prolific scorers before. But Durant’s game unfolded differently. He wasn’t just piling up points; he was perfecting a craft. The high-release jumper. The effortless handle for someone nearly 7 feet tall. The patience to let the game come to him. Four scoring titles followed, along with an MVP award and the sense that the league was watching one of the purest offensive players it had ever seen.
Now, as Durant passes Jordan on the scoring list, the moment feels less like a surprise and more like the natural evolution of a career defined by one thing: buckets. Because Durant didn’t chase scoring history loudly. He built it quietly, jumper by jumper, until one day, the numbers placed him alongside the legends he grew up watching.
“His imprint, his impact on the game is so big that it’s always historical, even coming close to what he’s done,” Durant said.
Be sure to catch the full conversation on Boardroom’s YouTube page here.
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