Throughout his Hall of Fame career, Kobe Bryant etched his name in the record books plenty of times. Unfortunately, records are usually broken and for Kobe, one player in particular seems to continually be taking his records, LeBron James.
James, of course, will also find himself in the Hall of Fame once he decides to call it a career. Also like Kobe, he came in the league straight from high school which means he will reach milestones at younger ages than most.
On Friday night James became the seventh player in NBA history to reach the 29,000 point milestone joining Kobe, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, and Dirk Nowitzki. In doing so, James broke Kobe’s record as the youngest player to do so.
At 32 years and 308 days old, James was almost a full year younger than Kobe when he reached the milestone as Bryant was 33 years and 199 days old. James also put on a Kobe-like performance in the game, scoring 57 points to lead Cleveland to a win over the Washington Wizards.
There has long been an argument over who is the better player between Kobe and LeBron. Fans never got the chance to see the two square off on the league’s biggest stage, the NBA Finals, but that hasn’t stopped fans from arguing passionately about their favorite.
Kobe was a cold-hearted assassin who could score from anywhere on the court, while LeBron is a physical specimen unlike anything the league had seen with outstanding vision and passing for someone his size. The argument will go on forever, but both will go down as two of the league’s best ever.
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