LeBron James Is 18 Points Away From Passing Kobe Bryant On The All-Time Scoring List
The moment will likely happen Saturday.
LeBron James is only 18 points away from passing Kobe Bryant on the NBA's all-time scoring list, setting up James, who averages 25.2 points a game, to accomplish the feat in Saturday's game against Philadelphia.
There will be cheers. There will be a standing ovation. That it will likely happen in Philadelphia, where Bryant was born, adds some poetry to a historical moment among two of the greatest NBA players of all time.
Bryant is third on the all-time scoring list with 33,643 points, while James currently has 33,626 points. Bryant, who is one of the most competitive players of all time, said he's earnestly happy for James.
“I don't know if people want that or want to have this kind of contentious thing where you don't want records to be broken or people there to surpass you,” Bryant told Mark Medina of USA TODAY Sports. “You should be happy for the person that comes after you to be able to surpass things that you've done. It's kind of juvenile to think or to behave any other way.”
This is coming from a man who led the Lakers to five NBA championships behind his tireless work ethic. He'd workout in dark gyms hours before practice began. He'd have marathon shooting sessions lasting hours. He'd call out his teammates for being soft if they failed to show the type of excellence and discipline that he expected.
But this competition is taking place off of the court, meaning, in Bryant's eyes, that it's no competition at all.
“I’m comfortable with the 20 years and moving on,” Bryant told Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. “People tend to misconstrue my competitiveness and that of other athletes as well. They think, they’re competitors, they don’t want the person coming up behind them to pass them or break their records, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Bryant has long rooted for James, and shown respect and reverence for the NBA greats.
James, similar to Bryant, is one of the few players that can take over a game with an unparalleled combination of skill and intensity, willing his teams to win. James, a 16-time All-Star, has won three NBA championships and led his teams to eight-straight Finals appearances, between 2011 and 2018.
Now, it's his personal mission to bring the 16-time championship Lakers back to the top of the league after the team has missed the playoffs six-straight seasons. The Lakers (36-9) currently have the best record in the Western Conference.
That goal deeply resonates with Bryant, who only played for the Lakers over his 20-season career.
Bryant said debates among fans over who is the greatest of all time are meaningless to the players themselves.
“I chuckle about them, it’s funny because people get so passionate over it," Bryant told the Los Angeles Times. "I understand, you’re fans, it’s a debate culture, that will never, ever stop. But for us as athletes, myself and ‘Bron and all the other guys, we appreciate each other, and we don’t participate in that stuff.”
In a sense, basketball fans got cheated out of what could've been one of the greatest rivalries of all time. Bryant and James never met in The Finals.
Now, that's something that disappoints Bryant.
“Competition is about competition,” Bryant said told USA TODAY Sports. “It's like competing with things that you can control. If you’re competing as somebody mano a mano, it's different. Of course, you want to win. But if it's things that aren't in your control?”
As for James, he said he's felt nothing but love from Bryant, someone whom he's always admired.
“He welcomed me here with open arms,” James told reporters. “Just to have that support from one of the greatest Lakers ever to play, it’s just special to me.”
Bryant wants Saturday to belong to James.
Instead of comparing the greats, he wants fans to appreciate the greatness unfolding in front of them.
“As a city, we’ve been so spoiled, we’ve had so many all-time greats put on purple and gold, we feel like we can minimize people that are currently playing; it happened to me with the whole Magic thing,” Bryant told the Los Angeles Times. “We should appreciate athletes while they are here. We are getting the opportunity to see ‘Bron and Anthony Davis every single night, that stuff is not normal, you know what I’m saying? Appreciate that stuff.”
