Saturday night, Lebron James surpassed Kobe Bryant's ranking on the NBA all-time scoring list, inching up to the No. 3 slot on the list during the Lakers' matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers, earning the 18 points that he had remaining to pass Bryant. James now brings his tally to 33,655 points, falling behind Kareem Abdul-Jabaar's 38,387and Karl Malone's 36,928.
"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."
Ultimately, James sealed the deal with 29 total points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds through the match. Bryant went on to congratulate James in a tweet following his performance, closely mirroring his sentiments in an interview with USA Today earlier in the week.
"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."