Kobe Bryant's Latest Feat Touches NBA's Past, Present and Future

MINNEAPOLIS — As part of his book-giving tradition, Phil Jackson in 2006 gave Kobe Bryant Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

Jackson knew Bryant had read and appreciated Gladwell’s The Tipping Point—though even as Bryant’s leadership skills were evolving then, it was still hard to envision someone with as sharp an edge as Bryant ever being one of Gladwell’s “Connectors” who know and reach so many people that they change the world.

Bryant has indeed changed the world in a very, very individual way. It is his name alone that sits third on the NBA’s all-time scoring list as of Sunday night, with Michael Jordan (32,292 points) now behind.

Yet let’s not overlook just how connected Bryant has become. He is a link to basketball greatness in so many ways—far beyond just what he has played himself.

Bryant has reached out to so many to learn so much. He played so memorably in front of so many.

And he is, um, so old.

After getting Andrew Wiggins in early foul trouble, Bryant got the whistle on a drive against Zach LaVine and sank two Jordan-passing free throws in the second quarter Sunday night. When Bryant, 36, was a rookie in 1996, current rookies Wiggins and LaVine were one year old.

“I witnessed greatness,” Wiggins said later. “A living legend passing Michael Jordan, who everyone thinks is the best of all time.”

Bryant’s cagey pump fakes suckered Wiggins, who had to smile about it when he went to the bench with his second foul, and Bryant couldn’t help recalling his own over-exuberant early days when matched up against Jordan.

Citing Wiggins’ “baby face,” Bryant smiled afterward and said, “It was like looking at a reflection of myself 19 years ago. It was pretty cool.”

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders pulled Wiggins off the assignment to defend Bryant near game’s end in favor of veteran Corey Brewer. First, though, Bryant cut crosscourt after sloppy execution bogged down a designed play, fetched the ball from Wesley Johnson and drilled a long three-pointer over Wiggins to break a 94-94 tie with 1:02 left.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ 100-94 victory allowed Bryant’s night to swell into a celebration of his career, to prop him up alongside or above Jordan, from whom he learned so much.

Jordan’s congratulatory statement to The Associated Press cited Bryant’s “strong work ethic” and “equally strong passion for the game of basketball.”

“That’s the most important thing to me,” Bryant said. “Playing for that, playing for the respect of the greats, feeling like I’m a part of that culture and part of that brotherhood.”

At this point, it’s uncanny how deep Bryant’s roots go into the game.

Bryant played with the No. 6 all-time scorer Shaquille O’Neal and No. 2 Karl Malone (and had memorable beefs with both). Beside getting peppered with questions from a curious Bryant while he was a special assistant coach with the Lakers, No. 1 scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar actually knew Kobe when he was a baby because of Abdul-Jabbar’s relationship with Kobe’s father, former pro Joe Bryant.

And before you dismiss No. 5 scorer Wilt Chamberlain as too far in the past for Kobe to touch, consider this: Bryant once told me the amazing story of how his maternal grandmother, Mildred, went to West Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School with Chamberlain.

“He asked her to the prom,” Bryant said, smiling. “But she shot him down. She was dating my grandpa.”

Bryant learned almost as much for his fadeaway jumper from Hakeem Olajuwon’s footwork as from Jordan’s. Bryant hit up John Stockton right on the court back in the day for ball-handling intel. Bryant’s study goes as far back as George Mikan, bringing the Lakers from Sunday night all the way back to when they were truly in Minneapolis in the 1940s.

Basketball history is one thing. Being able to feel it is completely another.

When Dirk Nowitzki passes Elvin Hayes’ 27,313 points for eighth on the NBA scoring list in the next week or so, the names and numbers won’t feel like anything more than names and numbers.

It’s hard to compare players when most have passed through different generations. It’s why San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, when asked about Bryant and Jordan on Friday night, said flatly, “I don’t compare players.”

We do at least have real images of Bryant and Jordan guarding each other, though. We’ll cycle through them again in February when Bryant goes to New York for the All-Star Game, his first time up there for the showcase since the 1998 game at Madison Square Garden that was all about Bryant’s All-Star debut against Jordan in that Chicago Bulls uniform.

Yet it’s not just Bryant and Jordan. Bryant wanted to make that clear when we talked about Jordan at length recently; he openly admits he stole from everybody to be the best he could.

If you want to talk about guards Bryant learned from, he’ll quickly cite Clyde Drexler and Oscar Robertson. In fact, two Lakers shooting guards have been deeply meaningful mentors for Bryant: Jerry West and Byron Scott.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Bryant peppered Scott, his teammate that rookie year in 1996, with questions about how the Lakers did all that winning in the ‘80s. West wasn’t just in charge of Lakers basketball operations when Bryant dazzled him in that predraft workout; he was a go-to advisor for Bryant through so many tough times.

Bryant appreciates that much of his access to history is because he has been a Laker, mentioning his training sessions just this season with James Worthy, now a studio TV analyst for the team, about positioning and his spin move, in particular.

The Lakers cherish their history, and after Bryant was presented with the game ball in a quick ceremony upon passing Jordan (teammate Robert Sacre’s apt summation: “You know you are special when they stop the game”), Bryant got a long embrace from Scott, now his head coach. Scott told him just how cool it was to be there for his first point and now this historic one—and how he was proud of him and loved him.

Bryant moved on to hug Lakers trainer Gary Vitti, then handed the ball over to Lakers equipment manager Carlos Maples for safekeeping. Both Vitti and Maples have been with the organization throughout Bryant’s tenure and have served as valued friends.

On the flip side, it was young Jordan Clarkson, the Lakers’ rookie guard, who would serenade Bryant in congratulatory song to the tune of Happy Birthday as the team plane left Minnesota late Sunday night and post to his Instagram account about Bryant: "The GOAT. Congrats, big homie."

Bryant’s reach now extends to Clarkson, same as it has for nondescript young Lakers guards of the past such as Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris who vouch for Bryant as their mentor, no matter how harsh he looks and how hated he might be from the outside.

Said Bryant: “Competitive nature is something that frightens a lot of people. ...You can't get to a supreme level without channeling the dark side.”

Bryant said the warm ovation inside Target Center for his accomplishment Sunday night was actually jarring.

“I’m used to being the villain,” he said. “To have moments like that, when you’re not expecting a hug and you get a hug, you’re like, ‘Man, this actually feels pretty damn good.’”

Without necessarily trying to unite the world, Bryant has managed to do just that.

We already knew Michael, for as iconic as he was and his legend still is, has touched legions.

Kobe, though, has established an epic reach of his own.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.