Dirk Nowitzki Passes Moses Malone for 7th on NBA's All-Time Scoring List

Dirk Nowitzki's trek up the list of NBA all-time scoring leaders continued on Monday night against the Brooklyn Nets. The Dallas Mavericks forward scored his 27,410th career point on a three-pointer, passing Moses Malone for seventh in the record books.

The Mavericks saluted the German star on social media:

Nowitzki finished with 15 points and seven rebounds in the Mavericks' 96-88 win. After the game, Nowitzki's response was predictably team-oriented, per The Associated Press, via ESPN.com: "I'm proud of it but more proud that we got the win."

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Malone is the third legend Nowitzki has supplanted this season, having already moved ahead of Hakeem Olajuwon and Elvin Hayes. Passing Olajuwon was a particularly impressive achievement, since it meant Dirk became the highest-scoring foreign-born player in NBA history.

Even though Nowitzki will unquestionably be remembered as one of his generation's best scorers, it's sometimes easy to forget just how consistent he's been over the past decade and change.

He's rapidly ascended the scoring ranks in 2014-15, but it will be some time before Nowitzki is sniffing Shaquille O'Neal for sixth. O'Neal has roughly a 1,200-point cushion between himself and the 2006-07 MVP.

Should he play another season and remain healthy, Dirk could reasonably overtake Shaq within the calendar year. Excluding the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, Nowitzki's averaged 1,590 total points a year over his past four campaigns.

The 36-year-old remains a great shooter, and defenses still have no answer for that patented high-arcing fadeaway jumper. 

He entered Monday scoring 18.5 points a night, which, if it holds, would be only the fourth time in his 17-year career he failed to average 20 or more points. That's due in no small part to Nowitzki playing fewer than 30 minutes a game for the first time since his rookie season.

Passing Malone is a further testament to the legendary career Nowitzki's had in the NBA. Now, he can focus all of his attention on winning a second title in Dallas.