LOS ANGELES — No. 1 in scoring among the Los Angeles Lakers, if not yet in the hearts of Lakerdom. . . .
These days it’s an exploit a month for Kobe Bryant, the youngest NBA player to score 20,000 points . . . and 21,000, 22,000, 23,000, 24,000 and 25,000 . . . who just passed Jerry West’s 25,192 to break the Lakers record.
Of course, it was coming for years. The only surprise was the outcry among Lakers fans at references to Bryant as the best Laker ever by the Lakers broadcast team and local papers.
What it suggested was the hold Magic Johnson and Jerry West have on Lakers fans’ hearts, a whole level of warmth up from what they feel for Bryant.
On the other hand, Bryant is just warming up.
West reached 25,192 at 35 after pushing his slight body as far as he could, wearing huge wraps on his twangy hamstrings and tape jobs on his face that made him look like the Phantom of the Opera after breaking his nose yet again.
West asked himself how long he could take it on a daily basis before retiring.
The question has never occurred to Bryant, whose whole life has been a mission to do exactly what he’s doing.
Forget Lakers records, Bryant’s headed a lot higher on the pyramid than that.
No. 14 on the all-time scoring list, at his career averages (25 points a game, 75 games a season), he would pass No. 4 Wilt Chamberlain (31,149) and No. 3 Michael Jordan (32,292) in four seasons — the number of years he’d have under contract with the Lakers’ extension offer.
Everything depends on health, but Bryant works on his body 24/7/365.
So, assuming anything that far out can be predicted, you can put down the spring of 2014 as the one in which Bryant passes Chamberlain and Jordan.
In 1996, West, then the Lakers general manager, called Bryant’s pre-draft workout the best he has ever seen, but at 17, Bryant was a 6-5, 165-pound colt, and an untamed one.
Within three years, having seen the depth of his commitment, West could have told you this day was coming.
"One of the reasons we traded Eddie Jones was, you couldn’t harness that, you just had to let him play," said West before presenting Bryant the game ball before the Lakers’ 99-97 win over Charlotte.
"Once he saw the game a little bit differently and played the game a little bit differently, he became the player we see here. He’s a player for decades. . . .
"It’s an easy game for him to play now. He’s so much more poised in terms of what he’s out to do.
"Scoring was never the hard thing. Winning is the hard thing. For someone as gifted as him, his skills, the way he competes, the way he’s learned to shoot the ball and more importantly, the depth of his skills, that’s what makes him dangerous to play for a long time."
Driven by demons after an impoverished youth, West was nonetheless friendly as a puppy, if an extremely high-strung puppy, with a brutal heart-on-his-sleeve candor that moved even opponents such as Bill Russell, who hated the Lakers but loved West.
Magic, of course, could have his picture in the dictionary under "charisma."
Bryant, who learned everything the hard way and has the scar tissue to prove it, is polite but reserved in group sessions, and does few one-on-ones.
Shaquille O’Neal, whose charm made up for the holes in his game, had stalwart media defenders here. Bryant’s effort and commitment far surpass O’Neal’s, but Bryant isn’t as charming and no one was ever as funny.
Bryant is all about business. O’Neal could try to squeeze his massive body into John Stockton’s shorts before a game.
On the other hand, there’s so much that lies ahead for Bryant, on and perhaps off the floor. As always in his life, basketball is the easy part.
Passing through in his vintage style, West made his presentation before the game and may have reached his car by the time they tipped it off.
Bryant was born in the spotlight, and if he has anything to say about it, his time has just begun.
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