Playoff Milestones: Durant's Points May Surpass Duncan and Shaq, James Needs 32 Three-Pointers to Overtake Klay

On April 18 Beijing time, the 2025-26 regular season has officially concluded, the play-in tournament ends today, and the 2026 NBA playoffs are ready to begin. This season saw many career milestones, and as the playoff curtain rises, a large number of historical records are poised to be rewritten. Here are some key individual milestones—

Durant: Playoff Points, Field Goals, Free Throws

Durant continuously refreshed multiple historical rankings during the regular season, most notably surpassing Michael Jordan to reach No. 5 on the NBA all-time scoring list. If he and the Rockets advance deep in the playoffs, his playoff historical ranking will also rise significantly.

He needs 188 more points to surpass Tim Duncan (5,172 points) and move to No. 6 in playoff scoring history; he needs 266 more points to overtake Shaquille O'Neal (5,250 points) and enter the top five historically. Throughout his career, whenever his team played at least 10 playoff games in a postseason, Durant never scored fewer than 319 points in that playoff run.

In field goals, Durant has made 1,684 playoff shots in his career. He needs 60 more to surpass Karl Malone (1,743 shots) and rank No. 7 historically. There remains a considerable gap to reach No. 6 Duncan (1,945 shots) and No. 5 Kobe Bryant (2,014 shots).

On the free throw list, he only needs to make 19 more free throws to surpass Karl Malone (1,269 made) and rise to No. 4 in playoff free throw history. If the Rockets have a lengthy playoff schedule, he even has a chance to challenge Kobe Bryant (1,320 made) for No. 3 historically, but there is still a significant distance to No. 2 Michael Jordan (1,463 made).

James: Playoff Three-Pointers

As the 2026 playoffs begin, columnist Brian Martin has already reviewed James's numerous data milestones. If the Lakers advance deep in the playoffs, James has another key record he could break.

James has made 480 three-pointers in his playoff career. He needs 32 more to surpass Klay Thompson (501 made) and move to second place on the historical playoff three-point list. The last time James made at least 32 three-pointers in a single postseason was during the 2020 championship season. Therefore, the length of the playoff schedule will be crucial for him to achieve this milestone.

Harden: Playoff Points, Assists, Games Played, Steals

Cavaliers guard Harden, though no longer the elite scorer from his Rockets days, remains firmly among the playoff scoring elites.

Harden's total playoff points are 3,895, ranking No. 14 historically. He needs just 3 more points to surpass Larry Bird (3,897 points) and move to No. 13; scoring 105 more points would make him the 12th player in league history to surpass 4,000 playoff points. Since the 2010-11 season, Harden has scored no fewer than 127 points in each postseason, making this target relatively achievable.

In assists, Harden has delivered 1,125 playoff assists, ranking No. 8 historically. He needs 12 more assists to surpass Rajon Rondo (1,136 assists) and move to No. 7; adding 19 more assists would secure No. 6 historically. If the playoff run extends, he is only 109 assists away from surpassing Chris Paul (1,233 assists) and entering the top five historically.

In playoff games played, Harden has participated in 173 games, ranking No. 23 historically. Playing 5 more games would tie him with Rasheed Wallace, Dwyane Wade, and Andre Iguodala (177 games) and move him to No. 20 historically; playing 12 more games would surpass Robert Parish (184 games) and enter the top 15 historically.

On the steals list, Harden could break into the playoff historical steals top ten in 2026. He has 282 playoff steals in his career. He needs 11 more steals to surpass Manu Ginóbili (292 steals) and rank No. 10 historically. In the 2025 playoffs he recorded 9 steals; in his last six playoff runs, three times he had at least 11 steals, making this target entirely achievable.

Three-Point Collective Breakthroughs: Durant, Tatum, George

If three All-Star players lead their teams deep in the playoffs, each could refresh their rankings on the playoff historical three-point made list.

Durant: 366 playoff three-pointers, needs 20 more to surpass Ray Allen (385 made) and move to No. 5 historically;

Tatum: Currently has 292 three-pointers, needs just 3 more to surpass J.R. Smith (294 made) and rank No. 10 historically;

George: Accumulated 276 three-pointers, needs 19 more to tie J.R. Smith, competing with Tatum for a spot in the historical top ten.