Many years ago, LeBron James followed the steps of legendary Kobe Bryant to the NBA straight out of high school but last night, James surpassed his role model Bryant for the number three spot on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
LeBron James was a teenager when he first met Kobe Bryant at a youth basketball camp, in awe of his idol and ears open as the Los Angeles Lakers star offered advice to the prodigy that has lasted to this day. “I was just listening,” James said. “I was just trying to soak everything up I could. I remember one thing he said was that if you want to try and be great at it, and want to be one of the greats, you’ve got to put the work in.” James put in the work and followed Bryant’s path — from making the leap from high school straight to the NBA, to winning NBA titles, and, eventually, to playing in Los Angeles. With a driving right-handed layup, James no longer chased Bryant, he zoomed past him for third place on the NBA’s career scoring list.
The Lakers star entered Saturday night’s matchup against the 76ers needing just 18 points to pass fellow Lakers legend Kobe Bryant (33,643). A layup in the third quarter put James over the top. Lebron James with 33,655 now trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabaar – another Lakers legend ( 38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928) on the all-time points list. He passed Michael Jordan last March for fourth all-time. The new star in Purple and Gold is averaging 25.3 points, a career-high 10.7 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game this season.
After James accomplished the feat on Saturday, Bryant sent his congratulations on Twitter. In 2014, when Bryant passed Jordan for third all-time, Michael Jordan did same, sending Number 24 a text congratulating him. “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,” Kobe said. “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.”
“I’m happy just to be in any conversation with Kobe Bryant,” James said post-match. “One of the all-time greatest basketball players to ever play, one of the all-time greatest Lakers. The man got two jerseys hanging up in Staples Center. It’s just crazy.”
Lebron James continues to write his name in gold in NBA. His legendary status has never been in doubt but the former Miami Heats man still has enough in his tank to keep going and breaking records. “You don’t have that much time to play this game. If you’re able to be remembered for the great things that you did, the positive things that you did, making people feel great about what you did, that’s a pretty cool thing.”
Salute, King James!