Kobe Bryant Passes 32,000 Points Scored in NBA Career

Kobe Bryant took one step closer to overtaking Michael Jordan on Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks.

The shooting guard notched his 32,000th career point in the fourth quarter against Atlanta, climbing to within under 300 points of MJ for third on the NBA all-time scoring list.

Bryant finished the night with 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting, four rebounds, three assists and a steal in L.A.'s 114-109 win over Atlanta. That gave him 32,001 total career points, which is just 292 shy of surpassing Jordan's 32,292.

Only two players rank ahead of Jordan in total career points: Karl Malone (36,928) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387). The 36-year-old Bryant made history earlier in the season when he broke John Havlicek's old record for most missed field-goal attempts (Hondo had 13,417 regular-season misses).

Bryant's pursuit of various benchmarks has offered some solace to L.A. fans in what is an otherwise drab season. Especially after rookie Julius Randle's season-ending leg injury, the 2-9 Lakers offer little in the way of optimism. Yet as bad as things get, Kobe remains the constant. He's going to scowl, chastise his teammates and score in bunches in just about every game.

On this current iteration of the Lakers team, Kobe has no qualms about chucking it. When the next-best scoring options are Nick Young, Jordan Hill, Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer, Bryant won't think twice about attempting anything within 35 feet of the basket.

Reporters inquired about Bryant's shot selection following a 136-115 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 16, in which he went 15-of-34 from the field for 44 points. ESPN.com's Baxter Holmes provided Kobe's response:

Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding discussed whether Bryant's one-man assault on the record books comes at a larger detriment to the Lakers:

Entering the night, Bryant was averaging 24.4 shots per game, which is the second-highest mark of his career (27.2 in 2005-06). He's scoring a little over 27 points per game, so if he maintains his current pace, it shouldn't take him long to jump ahead of Jordan. He could potentially slide past MJ within 10 games; he'd need to average 29.2 points per game in that 10-game span.

Of course, it's only fitting that Bryant would pass Jordan—the one player he's compared with most in his career. Fans have argued for years about who the better player is, and Bryant moving past MJ on the all-time scoring list would add yet another wrinkle to the debate.