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Kevin Durant played his 1,000th career NBA regular season game on Tuesday when the Phoenix Suns hosted the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA In-Season Tournament. He will likely play his 1,001st on Wednesday, as he's not in the Suns' injury report.
Durant is cleared from any injury ahead of the Phoenix Suns' next home stand against the Golden State Warriors at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. Devin Booker, who had a stellar performance for the Phoenix Suns, is also expected to play against the Warriors.
However, all eyes are on the Suns if they reactivate Yuta Watanabe at the tail end of their back-to-back assignments. He sat out for the second straight game with a left quad contusion and is listed as questionable against the Warriors pending a final announcement.
Bradley Beal, who as relayed by coach Frank Vogel earlier this week is "eager to go out there," remains out for the Phoenix Suns due to his back injury, which will be re-evaluated in three weeks. Meanwhile, Damion Lee is still recovering from a knee injury and is out indefinitely.
Kevin Durant moves up in all-time ranks in 1,000th game
In his 1,000th career game, Kevin Durant had an explosive outing enough to move up in the NBA's all-time scoring leaderboard.
Durant had a perfect first quarter, going 6-for-6 from the field, which was enough to cover the 14 points needed to pass Elvin Hayes for 11th place. Durant, who eventually finished with 31 points to reach 27,331 career points, said:
“Being amongst the all-time greats, the guys who set the standard and made the NBA what it is today is an honor. It’s pretty cool and I just gotta keep going.”
Up next for Kevin Durant is No. 10 Moses Malone, who has 27,409 points. Durant is projected to overtake Malone on Sunday when the Suns travel to New York City to face the Knicks.
However, if Kevin Durant puts up an explosive night again against the Warriors - at least matching the 39 points he had against the Utah Jazz in their double-overtime thriller on Sunday night - he could overtake Malone as early as Friday. The Suns face the Memphis Grizzlies to wrap up their West Group A assignment in the NBA In-Season Tournament.
