The milestones keep coming for Dirk Nowitzki. He scored 14 points in the Mavericks’ 102-98 win over the Lakers, giving him 27,322 for his career. He passed Elvin Hayes (27,313 career points) with a jumper near the start of the third quarter, and received a standing ovation from his home crowd.
Next up for Nowitzki is Moses Malone, who had 27,409 points in his NBA career (29,580 counting his years in the ABA—Nowitzki is 10th on the combined list). He needs 88 points to do it. He’s averaging 18.5 points per game this season, so he should be on pace to pass Malone’s NBA-only total on January 5, in Brooklyn against the Nets.
Here are some highlights of Hayes, a Hall of Famer who was one of the most underappreciated players of the 1970s and early ‘80s: