Kevin Durant: I 'Never Envisioned' Reaching 20,000 Points in NBA Career

Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant has 19,975 points in his illustrious career, but to hear him say it scoring so much was never something he "envisioned."

"I had one goal when I came into the league, and that was for me to win Rookie of the Year, and I just kept building after that," he said, per Chris Haynes of ESPN.com. "My second year, I wanted to average 25. Every year I had a goal, but I never envisioned me with 20,000 points, 30,000 points. I was just taking it a day at a time, just trying to lock in, stay in the moment and here I am."

The eight-time All-Star is just 29 years old, and Haynes noted he will be the second-youngest player in league history to reach the 20,000-point milestone if he scores 25 points Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Only LeBron James will have done it faster, and Durant will join the King, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to score 20,000 points before they are 30 years old.

"Man, that's some great company, and there's so many names I never thought I'd be in the same conversation with," Durant said. "But to know—to have it in numbers, in black and white—to know that you belong in that group is pretty special to me."

The Texas product has done nothing but score since he entered the league as the No. 2 overall pick of the 2007 draft. The 20.3 points per game he scored as a rookie still stands as the only season in his career he didn't eclipse 25.0 points a night, and he is averaging 25.9 per game this season.

Durant, who is a four-time scoring champion, is such a ruthless offensive weapon thanks to his vast array of skills. He can handle the ball like a guard despite being 6'9", consistently drill three-pointers when defenders give him space, attack the rim off the bounce when his shot is pressed and even post up smaller players on the high block as a matchup nightmare.

His scoring ability was on full display in the most important moments last season when he poured in 35.2 points per game in Golden State's NBA Finals victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning series MVP in the process.

He still has a long way to go to challenge Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record of 38,387 career points, but he is well on his way to the Hall of Fame largely because of his unique ability to rack up points at a head-turning pace.