Here are Some Vintage Kobe Bryant Pics to Honor His 30,000 Point Milestone

Kobe Bryant became just the fifth NBA player, and youngest, to reach the 30,000 point milestone last night. Ironically, he crossed the threshold against the team that drafted him back in 1996, but then traded him to Los Angeles. They were the Charlotte Hornets then, but last night in New Orleans, Kobe led the Lakers to the win on a night he etched another record into his Hall of Fame resume.

Bryant had 29 on the night and his career total stands at 30,016. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan are the four guys ahead of Bryant, and that's a pretty good group of five to be included in. Love him or hate him, what Kobe has done in his career is pretty remarkable.

But before he was the owner of five championship rings and all the other accolades along the way, he was just a brash kid coming out of high school to being an NBA rookie. In fact, there have been a lot of jokes about LeBron James saying he was taking his talents to South Beach, but in 1996  at Kobe's press conference announcing his future plans he said, 'I'm taking my talents to the NBA.' So Kobe has been influencing guys for a long time.