Below is an except of my article from NBA.com/Philippines.
With the recent 2-year $48.5 million dollar extension of Kobe Bryant and his anticipated return to the Los Angeles Lakers active roster by December 8,[i] my thoughts began to shift to what it would take for him—for any player—to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 29-year-old all-time scoring record of 38,387 points.
Bryant’s name immediately comes into the discussion as he is the closest active player to Abdul-Jabbar’s record. At present, the man known as the “Black Mamba” is the 4th all-time leading scorer in NBA history (31,617 career points). When Kobe takes the court on December 8, he would have a possible 227 games over the next three seasons to amass the 6771 points needed to pass Abdul-Jabbar. This hypothesis also assumes that Bryant’s latest contract extension will be the last of his storied career.
With this in mind, Kobe Bryant would have to average 29.828 points over the next three seasons to eclipse the scoring record. He also wouldn’t have the luxury of missing any more games should he decide to indeed “go for it.”
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[i] After missing his team’s first 19 games, Kobe Bryant will begin his 18th NBA season against the Toronto Raptors.
Tedi31.com 