Erik Spoelstra Respects Kevin Durant, but Prayed for Him to Not Surpass Michael Jordan Against Heat

Joseph Galizia | 22/03/2026
Erik Spoelstra (L) and Kevin Durant (R)

Saturday turned out to be a historic night, with Kevin Durant, a bonafide future Hall of Famer, approaching the Miami Heat game just 26 points shy of surpassing Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list. It ended with him knocking His Airness down a peg, which was exactly what Erik Spoelstra didn’t want.

Durant was determined, though. A few weeks ago, he climbed past Wilt Chamberlain, and has showed no signs of slowing down in his quest to go ahead of Jordan, averaging more than 25 a game.

The Miami Heat know all about creating history, with one of their own, Bam Adebayo, scoring 83 in a game just this month. So Spoelstra knows no team wants to be on the receiving end of a historic moment. “I root for Kevin always but I hope he doesn’t do it tonight,” Rockets broadcaster Vanessa Richardson quoted Spoelstra saying.

“He is incredible. He’s timeless. He’s been exceptionally consistent at what he does, and he is a great example for young players to study how he prepares.”

Alas, Durant didn’t care. In the close battle against the Heat, he did just about enough to surpass Jordan, hitting the 27 point mark late in the fourth quarter. These will likely be the sweetest 27 points he has scored in ages.

Spoelstra must have been disappointed, not only because Durant did what he hoped against but also because the Heat ended up losing by 123-122. On a personal level, however, the Miami head coach will surely be proud of what Durant achieve.

Richardson further revealed during broadcast that Spoelstra credits the 15-time All-Star for being such a model of hard work, one that younger players can look up to.

“Young players come in at 19-20 and think they have an idea of what working hard is and player development. Until you watch somebody like Durant work, you don’t know what hard work is. When I had a chance to see it in person at Team USA it was remarkable,” she further quoted Spoelstra.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Erik Spoelstra Kevin Durant Michael Jordan

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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