LA Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was proud to pass former team-mate Shaquille O'Neal on the NBA's career scoring list because of their history together.

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Bryant scored 28 points in Monday's 95-90 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, but it was enough for him to register 28,601 career points - surpassing the 28,596 points scored by O'Neal during his career - and move him to fifth on the all-time scoring list.

"All the battles we've been in, the playoff battles, the duo that we've been able to form," Bryant told reporters after the game.

"When you (consider) the championships, it makes it a little more significant."

O'Neal and Bryant led the Lakers to NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002 but it was hardly a stable relationshp and the pair requently clashed on-and-off the court. However, O'Neal did offer his congratulations to Bryant on Twitter: "Congrats to Kobe for being the greatest laker ever thanks for making us the greatest laker one two punch ever and congrats on passin me up 2."

"I appreciate it. I'm sure Shaq and I will connect at some point and revisit history," he said. "It's fun. We had some good times."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain are ahead of Bryant on the NBA's career scoring list.