There's no denying that Kobe Bryant was an incredible basketball player who racked up accomplishment after accomplishment, including his high position of number three on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Bryant incredibly scored 33,643 points throughout his 20-season career in the NBA, a figure Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James surpassed with his 33,644th point on Jan. 25, 2020, clinching one point over the basketball legend. The late athlete congratulated James on Twitter, saying he had "much respect" for the star, while on Instagram he captioned a photo of the pair, "On to #2 @kingjames! Keep growing the game and charting the path for the next."
James, who is six years younger than Bryant, has credited his success to the legend through the years. "I was just trying to soak up everything that I could and I remember one thing that he said," the Ohio native recalled in a video uploaded to Twitter by Sports Center about meeting the dad-of-four as a young person. "He was, like, 'If you want to try to be great at it, or want to be one of the greats you have to put the work in. There's no substitution for work.'"
Heartbreakingly, James was spotted seemingly crying when he arrived at Los Angeles International airport after the world learned of Bryant's death.
