NEW ORLEANS — Kobe Bryant became the youngest player in NBA history to eclipse 30,000 career points and only the fifth overall.
Bryant, who scored 29 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 103-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday, entered the game needing only 13 points to eclipse the scoring milestone. He did so with a short jumper late in the first half that was perhaps the least spectacular of his baskets, which included the usual array of soaring dunks, demoralizing transition 3-pointers and turnaround, off-balance jumpers.
Bryant is 34. Wilt Chamberlain was 35 when he hit the mark, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone were each 36 and Michael Jordan was 38.
— The Associated Press
