THE NBA has its own K. K. K. by way of the top three career scorers in the pro league’s 69-year regular-season history – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and now, Kobe Bryant.
Abdul-Jabbar, who started his distinguished NBA tenure in 1969-70 under his Catholic name Ferdinand Lewis (Lew) Alcindor, is the all-time leading scorer in regular play with 38,387 points. The 7-foot-2 product of the University of Los Angeles at California (UCLA or the college that Benjie Paras’ son Kobe has committed to attend in 2016-17) labored with the Milwaukee Bucks (1969-75) and Los Angeles Lakers (1975-89) in 1,560 games and 20 seasons to get that many points and the NBA distinction.
Kareem, who converted to Islam in the summer of 1971 following an NBA title finish with the Bucks, made it the top of the scoring ladder by surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s 31,419 career points (in 14 seasons and 1,045 games with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and LA Lakers from 1959-73) on April 5, 1984 while donning the Lakers uniform.
Before a crowd of 18,389 at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, the Utah Jazz’ home-away-from-home facility that season, Abdul-Jabbar needed 22 points to eclipse Chamberlain’s league mark and he did accomplish the feat (just 11 days before his 37th birthday) with his trademark “skyhook” shot (for his 21st and 22nd points) early in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 129-115 victory over 7-foot-4 mastodon Mark Eaton and the Jazz.
The 7-foot-1 Chamberlain, who until now still owns 71 NBA records, including 62 by himself, had held the NBA career scoring record for more than 18 years until fellow Lakers alum Abdul-Jabbar snatched it from him.
On February 14, 1966, Wilt, while carrying the 76ers colors in his seventh pro season, netted 41 points in a 149-123 win over the Detroit Pistons to move past Bob Pettit (20,880 points in 11 seasons and 792 games with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks from 1954-65) as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. “The Stilt” finished the game with 20,884.
Chamberlain became the first of five men in NBA regular-season annals to reach the 30,000-point plateau on February 16, 1972 during the Lakers’ 110-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Chamberlain, who died of congestive heart failure on October 12, 1999 at his Bel Air home in Los Angeles, California at age 63, now ranks fifth on the NBA’s all-time regular-season scoring charts.
To date, “The Mailman” Karl Malone is No. 2 on the all-time list with 36,928 points, stringing them together in 19 seasons and 1,476 games with the Utah Jazz (1985-2003) and LA Lakers (2003-2004).
The LA Lakers’ Bryant has moved up to third place, doing it at the expense of His Airness Michael Jordan last December 14 during the Lakers’ 100-94 road victory over the equally woeful Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.
Kobe needed nine points against the Wolves to climb past Air Jordan’s 32,292 (in 15 seasons and 1,072 games with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards from 1984-2003, while in retirement in 1993-94 and from 1998-2001) into third on the list and the 6-foot-7 son of former NBA journeyman frontliner Joe “Jelly Bean” Bryant turned in the trick with a pair of free throws midway through the first half for his eighth and ninth points. He eventually finished with a team-best 26 markers to improve to 32,310.
It took the 36-year-old Bryant, who has spent his entire 19-year NBA tenure with the Lakers, 1,269 games to dislodge Jordan, though.
The all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history, Bryant jacked up his career total to 32,331 with 21 scores in the Lakers’ 110-91 road setback to the Indiana Pacers last Dec. 15. On December 20 (Manila time), the Lakers (8-17) will host an Oklahoma City Thunder team that has been rejuvenated with the return of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook from injuries.
For the record, Jordan still holds the all-time highest scoring average in NBA regular-season history at 30.12 points a game. Chamberlain is a close second with 30.06 clip.
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