In what has become a regular occurrence in his 20th and final season, Kobe Bryant passed another NBA legend in the record books on Sunday night.
By tallying four assists in the first six minutes of the Lakers’ loss to Houston, Bryant rolled by Jerry West (6,238) for the second-most in franchise history.
The NBA’s third-leading scorer of all-time, Bryant is also 28th on the league’s assists list.
“You have to keep the defense honest,” Bryant said. “You have to be able to make plays and make passes, and have the defense fear you as a passer. If they don’t, you can’t score 40 or 50 points, because they can just load up on you. You have to be feared as a passer.”
Bryant now sits behind only Magic Johnson — who collected 10,141 assists in just over 12 seasons — in team history.
One of Johnson’s former teammates heaped praise on Bryant after the game.
“He’s not only just a scorer,” head coach Byron Scott said. “He can do other things, as he’s shown for 20 years.”
Bryant — who is up to 6,244 assists after tallying tying his season-high with nine Sunday — later said that passing West is “an accomplishment that I’m really, really proud of.”
Only LeBron James (6,525) and Reggie Theus (6,453) have more assists than Bryant among non-point guards.
“It’s not rocket science to me,” Bryant said. “If I handle the ball and I’m penetrating, I can find guys pretty easily and pass the ball pretty well. It’s nothing new.”
Best of Bryant’s Assists