Kobe Bryant stands 31 points away from passing Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list entering Friday night’s Los Angeles Lakers game against the San Antonio Spurs.
History may be made on Friday night, or Bryant may take two nights to pass the milestone. If Bryant takes two nights, history would likely be made in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Lakers got their name and won their first title. That conversation, however, is for Saturday night.
Bryant has been constantly compared to Jordan since the moment he walked onto the court, and those comparisons have only gained further momentum with each turnaround fadeaway jump shot and every NBA championship. When looking back, Bryant is the closest any player has come to being Jordan in the 16 years since the greatest shooting guard of all time retired from the Chicago Bulls.
On Friday night, Bryant is only 31 points shy from moving past Jordan in a major category and doing so against the Spurs seems to fit all too snugly. In San Antonio, Bryant faces another all-time great who played in his prime at the same time as Bryant: Tim Duncan.
Duncan has five NBA titles and six trips to the NBA Finals. Bryant has five NBA titles and seven trips to the NBA Finals. From 1999 until 2014, Duncan's Spurs and Bryant's Lakers have appeared in the NBA Finals in 13 of 16 years.
The comparisons between Bryant and Jordan may be inevitable considering the playing styles of both players and the historical occasion of passing no. 23 on the scoring charts, but the comparisons between Duncan and Bryant are just as relevant on this or any other night.
On Friday, Bryant's quest for history goes through San Antonio, just as it has for the better part of the past two decades.
