20KD: How does Durant stack up to the rest of the 20,000 point club?
By Jelani Scott
Wilt the Stilt goes for 20k
Although you would be hard pressed to find articles about the exact game Wilt Chamberlain scored his 20,000th point in (however, you can find plenty of information about a different 20,000 he’s known for), I was able to narrow down the game in which he accomplished the feat.
Through a number of complex calculations using methods such as addition and subtraction, I found that the date was January 2, 1966 and the opponent was the young Warriors center’s favorite punching bags, the NY Knicks. Chamberlain scored 50 points on 22/38 from the field, grabbed 23 rebounds and he dished six assists in the 133-122 win in his 499th career game.
He went on to finish the 1965-66 season with averages of 33.5 PPG, 24.6 RPG and 5.2 APG (he also probably averaged eight blocks a game too, but that wasn’t a stat back then). Needless to say, we all know about his Paul Bunyan-like mystique that continues to captivate NBA fans young and old and that season, along with the milestone game, only further adds to the strength of this 20K club.
On top of the distinction of requiring the fewest games to reach 20,000 (second fewest is Michael Jordan with 620), Chamberlain would go on to become the first player in NBA history to reach 30,000 just six years later.
In August 2017, Durant revealed on his YouTube channel that if he could play with any two legends, he would pick Magic Johnson and…yup, you guessed it, Wilt the Stilt.
What a dynamic duo for the ages this would’ve been. Sadly, and perhaps fortunately at the same time, these two will only be mentioned in the same breath again is if KD reaches 30K.
I think he has it in him.