Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel had a front-seat view of LeBron James passing Kobe Bryant for third on the all-time scoring list, and he couldn't be more proud to witness history.
On Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers, LeBron toppled Kobe's record. He needed just 18 points entering the game to secure the third spot, and he reached that mark midway through the third quarter of the contest.
While the Lakers ended up losing the contest despite James finishing with 29 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, Vogel didn't let that overshadow the accomplishment that LeBron made.
âIt was a great historic moment for our franchise, for LeBron himself. Very special to be a part of,â Vogel said of LeBron's feat, per Melissa Rohlin of Sports Illustrated.
In total, LeBron now has 33,655 career points, which is 3,273 markers behind Karl Malone for the second spot and 4,732 away from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA record.
Prior to Saturday's game, LeBron was averaging 25.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and a league-leading and career-best 10.8 assists per game. He was also shooting particularly well, registering a 49.4 percent shooting clip overall (including 34.6 percent from deep) and 69.7 percent from the free-throw line.
After LeBron's latest milestone, several former and current NBA players congratulated the King. In fact, even Kobe Bryant himself took to Twitter to express his admiration for his fellow Laker.
Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother đȘđŸ #33644
â Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 26, 2020
After their latest performance, however, Frank Vogel, LeBron James and the Lakers need to get back to the drawing board and bounce back. Their defeat to the Sixers is their second double-digit defeat in their last four games, having blown out by the Boston Celtics (139-10) earlier in the week.
Follow Us
Subscribe