Durant passes Nowitzki for 6th on all-time scoring list

Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant reached another milestone Sunday when he passed Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki for sixth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

Durant entered the game against the New Orleans Pelicans needing 17 points to overtake Nowitzki. He recorded his 31,561st career point on a free throw with 15.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Nowitzki, who entered the Hall of Fame in 2023, offered his congratulations to Durant in a video.

Durant spoke in reverential terms about Nowitzki, whom he competed against during his first 12 seasons. The 37-year-old battled Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks in three playoff series while he was still with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I always said I wanted to be that respected, I wanted to be that revered by my teammates, by a city, by media, by everybody who watches the game, and I felt like Dirk was the embodiment of that," Durant said postgame. "And I try to emulate as much as I can all the great players, but I took a little bit from Dirk - a lot from Dirk, actually. He knows.

"One of my trainers was good friends with Dirk. He was a rookie, played one season in the NBA, was a rookie with Dirk, so he learned a lot from him, and I was able to take some of his stuff and incorporate it into my routine. So I'm very grateful for Dirk, Holger (Geschwindner, Nowitzki's coach and mentor), what they brought to the game, because without them I wouldn't have seen the game from this perspective. He means a lot to me, man."

This is the second time in a little over a week that Durant has leapfrogged an NBA legend on the scoring list. He moved past Wilt Chamberlain for seventh place Jan. 10.

Next up for Durant is Michael Jordan, who sits in fifth place with 32,292 points.

*before Los Angeles Lakers played Sunday

Durant finished with 18 points in Houston's 119-110 win over New Orleans.