LeBron shoots past Kobe as youngest to reach 24,000 points

Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James tries to dribble past Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant during their game at Staples Center on Friday (Manila time). AP

MANILA, Philippines–Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James reached another milestone on Saturday (Manila time).

James became the youngest player to hit 24,000 points when he scored 32 points to help the Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Clippers–passing Lakers great Kobe Bryant, who did it a year and 58 days older than James. The four-time MVP James just turned 30 on December 30.

Future Hall of Famers James and Bryant recently went head-to-head at Staples Center last Friday in a victory by the Cavaliers. James had 36 points, five rebounds and five assists against Bryant’s 19 points, six rebounds and career-high 17 assists.

But while James has overtaken Bryant in the list, the two-time NBA champion still has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to overall career points.

Bryant, who also has three more titles than James, just climbed to third in the all-time scoring list last month with over 32,400 points. Legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36, 928) are in the top two with Michael Jordan, considered the greatest of all time, dropping to fourth with 32,292 points, according to basketball-reference.com.
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