Notable numbers behind LeBron James and Kevin Durant matchup

LeBron James and Kevin Durant will face off Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC) in another chapter of the story of two of the NBA’s greatest players.

James and Durant have faced off 39 times across the regular season and playoffs, including three NBA Finals. Before their first matchup of this season on Oct. 26, 2023, they had gone almost five years without playing against one another in a game, the last time being Christmas Day 2018.

Sunday’s meeting has important implications for the Western Conference standings. The Phoenix Suns are the No. 8 seed, while the Los Angeles Lakers are No. 9 heading into Sunday.

James is averaging 24.9 points, the highest-ever for anyone in their 21st season in the NBA. Durant’s average of 28.1 points is the highest for any player in their 16th season.

Here are more notable numbers behind the matchup between James and Durant.

18: In 25 regular-season meetings, James leads the head-to-head record at 18-7, the best mark by any player against Durant (minimum of 25 games).

However, Durant leads the all-time playoff series record at 9-5 across three NBA Finals. Durant beat James in 2017 and 2018 with the Golden State Warriors, but James won in 2012 with the Miami Heat.

68,194: It’s no secret that James and Durant are two of the NBA’s top scorers ever.

James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and just over 100 points away from becoming the first player with 40,000 regular-season points. Durant is the ninth-leading scorer, after passing Carmelo Anthony on Friday, and is 301 away from passing Shaquille O’Neal for eighth.

Heading into Sunday, James and Durant have combined for 68,194 points, the most entering a matchup in NBA history. That surpasses the total of 67,331 combined between Michael Jordan and Karl Malone on Feb. 14, 2003.

29.0: Durant has had his fair share of high scoring outputs against James.

In 25 regular-season games, Durant has averaged 29 points, the most by any player to face James multiple times. The Suns forward has outscored James 21 times across 39 regular-season and playoff meetings.

However, the highest-scoring game belongs to James — a 51-point performance in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals.

Durant’s career points average of 27.3 is sixth all-time behind qualified players, just ahead of James at No. 7 with a 27.1 average.

1,201: The Lakers forward holds not only the NBA’s career scoring record, but also the mark for the most consecutive games with at least 10 points at 1,201. Durant has the fifth-longest such streak at 562 games from 2009 to 2017.

The last time James failed to score 10 points in a regular-season game was Jan. 5, 2007, against the Milwaukee Bucks. At the time, Durant was a freshman with the Texas Longhorns. James’ streak began on Jan. 6, 2007, the same day Durant scored 37 against the Colorado Buffaloes, his first 30-point game.

In their previous meeting last month, James had just 10 points, the fewest by either player in a game against one another, and Durant had 18. It marked the first time since Nov. 26, 2008, that both players had fewer than 20 points in one of their matchups.