Where does Kobe Bryant rank among the all-time NBA greats?

Nov. 30, 2015 3:11 PM PT

After Kobe Bryant announced late last year that he plans to retire from the NBA at the end of the 2015-16 season, fans started wondering where he ranks among the greatest basketball players of all time.

For most seasons during his long career, Bryant's yearly scoring average was more than 20 points per game. He was the NBA's scoring leader in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

Below is a breakdown of his yearly season scoring averages and other NBA career numbers that will help you determine Bryant's place in the history books. Asterisks denote active players.

Bryant's points per game

Lakers won NBA title

Bryant led league in points per game

2008-09 & 2009-10

NBA Finals MVP

2007-08

NBA MVP

35.4

31.6

28.6

28.5

28.3

27.6

27.9

27.3

25.2

25.3

22.3

22.5

19.9

15.5

15.4

13.8

7.6

'96

'97

'98

'99

'00

'01

'02

'03

'04

'05

'06

'07

'08

'09

'10

'11

'12

'13

'14

'15

Total points

Rank:

3rd

38,387

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

36,928

Karl Malone

32,683

Kobe Bryant*

32,292

Michael Jordan

31,419

Wilt Chamberlain

28,596

Shaquille O'Neal

28,393

Dirk Nowitzki*

27,409

Moses Malone

27,313

Elvin Hayes

26,946

Hakeem Olajuwon

Minutes played

Rank:

9th

57,446

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

54,852

Karl Malone

50,111

Jason Kidd

50,099

Kevin Garnett*

50,000

Elvin Hayes

47,859

Wilt Chamberlain

47,764

John Stockton

47,619

Reggie Miller

47,178

Kobe Bryant

47,117

Gary Payton

Field goals

Rank:

5th

15,837

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

13,528

Karl Malone

12,681

Wilt Chamberlain

Michael Jordan

12,192

Kobe Bryant

11,388

Shaquille O'Neal

11,330

Elvin Hayes

10,976

Hakeem Olajuwon

10,749

Alex English

10,659

John Havlicek

10,513

Points per game

Rank:

11th

30.12

Michael Jordan

30.07

Wilt Chamberlain

27.36

Elgin Baylor

27.33

Kevin Durant*

27.32

LeBron James*

27.03

Jerry West

26.66

Allen Iverson

26.36

Bob Pettit

26.18

George Gervin

25.68

Oscar Robertson

25.28

Kobe Bryant

25.15

Carmelo Anthony*

Field goals missed

Rank:

1st

13,919

Kobe Bryant

13,417

John Havlicek

13,296

Elvin Hayes

12,682

Karl Malone

12,470

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Michael Jordan

12,345

Dominique Wilkins

11,626

Elgin Baylor

11,478

Allen Iverson

11,439

Dirk Nowitzki*

11,010

Sources: NBA, basketballreference.com

Sports

Houston Mitchell

Houston Mitchell is an assistant sports editor, writer of the Dodgers Dugout newsletter and editor of all of the sports newsletters for the Los Angeles Times.

Priya Krishnakumar

Priya Krishnakumar is a former graphics and data journalist at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she has worked at the Washington Post, Patch Media and Northwestern University’s Knight Lab. She’s a Northern California native and graduated from Northwestern University in 2014 with a degree in journalism. She also refuses to stop talking about how amazing the weather is in L.A.