Kobe Bryant surpassed legendary Celtics great John Havlicek for eleventh-place on the NBA all-time scoring list after netting 23 in the Lakers loss to the Bulls on Friday night. He also stands to catch several other players in the coming months and could move as high as sixth before the 2010-11 season comes to a close.
Bryant is no stranger to scoring milestones, of course. Not only is he currently 11th in NBA history in scoring average (25.3) but he was the youngest player ever to reach 20,000 points (29 years, 122 days) and 25,000 points (31 years, 151 days), passing Wilt Chamberlain both times in the process.
Below are the top fifteen scorers in NBA history after Kobe hit his milestone (per Basketball-Reference.com):
| Rank | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 38387 |
| 2 | Karl Malone | 36928 |
| 3 | Michael Jordan | 32292 |
| 4 | Wilt Chamberlain | 31419 |
| 5 | Shaquille O’Neal | 28434 |
| 6 | Moses Malone | 27409 |
| 7 | Elvin Hayes | 27313 |
| 8 | Hakeem Olajuwon | 26946 |
| 9 | Oscar Robertson | 26710 |
| 10 | Dominique Wilkins | 26668 |
| 11 | Kobe Bryant | 26398 |
| 12 | John Havlicek | 26395 |
| 13 | Alex English | 25613 |
| 14 | Reggie Miller | 25279 |
| 15 | Jerry West | 25192 |
Kobe is also climbing higher each game in a plethora of other all-time statistics as well. Check out the table below:
| Category | Rank | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Free throws made | 9 | 6701 |
| Field goals made | 16 | 9182 |
| Turnovers | 16 | 3051 |
| 3pt field goals | 21 | 1333 |
| Steals | 24 | 1583 |
| Minutes | 31 | 38132 |
| Assists | 53 | 4872 |
| Games | 76 | 1044 |
Kobe is entering the top fifty in all of these important regular-season categories and isn’t showing a ton of signs that he is slowing down, as evidenced by The Sporting News naming him the best player in the NBA today and his current 26.4 points for the division-leading Lakers this season.
The turnover-rank isn’t fantastic but hey, even the GOAT Michael Jordan turned it over 2,924 times in his career.
His playoff statistics are also entering rare waters. Check out the table below:
| Category | Rank | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Points | 4 | 5052 |
| Minutes | 5 | 7811 |
| Steals | 9 | 278 |
| Assists | 11 | 955 |
| Rebounds | 37 | 1037 |
Bryant may be entering the stretch-run of his career but he’s not done yet, and before he’s through top thirty ranks in all of the above are not out of the question.