The Truth About 20,000: Kobe Bryant Youngest, Not Quickest

Kobe Bryant became the youngest NBA player to reach the 20,000-point mark last week.

But is it all smoke and mirrors? Does youngest mean quickest?

Not necessarily.

20,000 points sounds amazing. That's because it is. Let's face it though: If you're a real stats fan, you have to look at the whole picture.

When you consider the total number of games it took Kobe to reach the plateau, it takes some of the punch out of the amazement.

I'm not taking anything away from Bryant—he's a great basketball player. But it took him 811 games to hit 20,000. Wilt Chamberlain, by comparison, did it in 499 games.

Now THAT's amazing.

Michael Jordan, for his part, pulled the feat in 620 contests. And if you break it down in terms of points per game, Kobe falls even further behind.

Wilt hit 40.1 PPG; Jordan hit 32.3. Kobe? 24.7.

20,000 doesn't sound quite so good now, does it?

I'm afraid the only thing this milestone really means is that Bryant's head will swell a little larger than it already is.

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