PHILADELPHIA – Hours before Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash, LeBron James scored 29 points Saturday to moved past the Los Angeles Lakers legend for third on the NBA’s career scoring list.
Bryant even tweeted to congratulate the Akron native and former Cleveland Cavalier on the accomplishment the night before Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people were killed in the crash near Los Angeles.
James entered 18 points shy of passing Bryant on the list and now has 33,655 career points.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s career scoring leader with 38,387 points and Karl Malone is second at 36,928.
James is on pace to pass Abdul-Jabbar in about three seasons.
His 29 points was not enough to lift the Lakers to a win at Philadelphia.