Bryant’s 20th season will be his last
“This season is all I have left to give ... My heart can take the pounding, my mind can handle the grind, but my body knows it’s time to say goodbye ... [Basketball] gave a six-yearold boy his Laker dream, and I’ll always love [the game] for it. But I can’t love [it] obsessively for
much longer.”
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant announced that the current NBA season will be the final one of his storied career.
“This season is all I have left to give,” Bryant wrote on The Players Tribune in a letter he opened directly to the sport itself with the words, “Dear Basketball.”
Bryant is in his 20th season, all with the Lakers since a draft-day trade in 1996 that sent Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets in return for a 17-year old kid taken with the 13th overall pick.
Bryant won five NBA titles. He was still playing at an elite level until April 2013 when he tore an Achilles’ tendon. Knee and shoulder injuries have limited Bryant the last two seasons.
“My heart can take the pounding, my mind can handle the grind, but my body knows it’s time to say goodbye,” Bryant wrote.
“I’m ready to let you go,” he continued. “I want you to know now, so we can both savor every moment we have left together. The good and the bad. We have given each other all we have.”
Bryant, 37, is struggling this season, averaging 15.7 points a game while shooting only 31.5 percentfrom the field and 19.5 percentfrom 3-point range.
The Lakers are in last place in the Western Conference with a 2-14 record.
“You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream, and I’ll always love you for it,” writes Bryant. “But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver issued the following statement regarding
—Kobe Bryant on his decision to retire after this season, via The Players’ Tribune Kobe Bryant’s announcement:
“With 17 NBA All-Star selections, an NBA MVP, five NBA championships with the Lakers, two Olympic gold medals and a relentless work ethic, Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of our game. Whether competing in the Finals or hoisting jump shots after midnight in an empty gym, Kobe has an unconditional love for the game.
“I join Kobe’s millions of fans around the world in congratulating him on an outstanding NBA career and thank him for so many thrilling memories.”
The Lakers still have 66 games left to play this season, with the regular-season finale on Apr. 13 at Staples Center against the Utah Jazz.
Coach Byron Scott told reporters before the Lakers’ game this evening against the Pacers that he felt “sad” after Bryant told him of his decision.
“We talked about it last night. As I told him, he kind of shocked me when he told me,” Scott said. “He’s somebody who I truly care about, have a lot of respect for. It’s always hard when greatness like Kobe just decides to hang it up.
“He’ll get a chance to go around to all these NBA cities and they can really show their appreciation for what he has been able to accomplish in this league has been great.”
After the Lakers’ 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, Bryant, as he sat down for his postgame news conference, asked: “So ... what’s new?”
Bryant, who finished with 13 points on 4-for-20 shooting from the field on Sunday, said he’s completely at peace with his decision to retire. He was smiling, laughing while talking with reporters.
Asked if he might shed a few tears as the end of the season gets closer, Bryant said: “It’s not going to happen on the court.”
Bryant’s advice from Phil Jackson after telling his former coach of his pending retirement: “Break the season up into sections ... take it one chunk at a time.”
Bryant said he doesn’t need to be on Team USA at Olympics next year in Brazil but would “be honored” if it happened.
Bryant on playing in his hometown, on Tuesday, as the Lakers start a long road trip: “It’s going to be beautiful. So much of my game was developed in Philadelphia.”
And he joked about being a 37-yearold surrounded by all the youth on the Lakers’ roster: “I feel like their grandfather. I’m like a triple O.G.”