 Los Angeles Lakers star, Kobe Bryant, scored 44 in a loss to the Memphis Grizzles on Monday (February 1). Despite the loss, there was something to celebrate -- him becoming the team's all-time leading scorer.
Bryant surpassed Lakers legend Jerry West -- the man who drafted Bryant as the team's general manager -- to become the franchise's leading all-time scorer.
"It's a great honor to say the least," said Bryant. "[West] taught me so much when I was 17 years old. He showed me a lot about the game, the jump shot and spin moves and all the others."
So what's next for Kobe? Can he hit Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time NBA mark?
While time holds the answer, Kobe says he'll "probably" be able to do it.
At 31 years old, the Lakers superstar has 25,208 points in his 14th season. Abdul-Jabbar had 38,387 in 20 seasons, before retiring a few months before his 42nd birthday.
"He's going to play a long time," West told the Los Angeles Times. "Most of the players who scored 25,000 points, they were 22 years old when they started. He was obviously 18 when he first got started. It wouldn't surprise me to see him score in the 30,000s. But health is an issue and age. There's one opponent you can't defeat and that's age. (Pause.) He will try that, by the way."
"If I play that long, probably. We'll see how my body feels," Bryant added.
Kobe sits at #13 on the NBA's all-time scoring list, 71 points shy of Reggie Miller's mark.
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