Kobe Bryant, who has helped the Lakers win five NBA championships over a 20-year career spent entirely in Los Angeles, announced Sunday on The Players’ Tribune website that he will retire after this season, writing that “this season is all I have left to give.”
In a first-person story titled “Dear Basketball,” the 37-year-old wrote in the form of a poem that the sport “gave a six-year-old boy his Lakers dream/And I’ll always love you for it.”
“But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer,” Bryant wrote. “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. “And that’s OK. I’m ready to let you go.”
“I’ve known for a while,” Bryant said. “A decision like this, you can’t make that decision based on outside circumstances. It has to be an internal decision, and finally I’ve decided to accept that I can’t actually do this anymore and I’m OK with that. “It takes a weight off my shoulders and everybody else’s.”
Bryant’s decision is not totally unexpected, given that he has said many times in recent weeks that he has considered making this season his last. After two decades, two Olympic gold medals, five championship rings, 17 All-Star selections, an 81-point game that ranks as the second-best in NBA history and more than 32,000 points, Bryant’s career is officially winding down.
“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,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “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.”
Fans arriving at Staples Center on Sunday received a letter from Bryant in a black envelope embossed with gold. “What you’ve done for me is far greater than anything I’ve done for you,” Bryant wrote in the letter to fans. “I knew that each minute of each game I wore purple and gold. I honor it as I play today and for the rest of this season. My love for this city, this team and for each of you will never fade. Thank you for this incredible journey.”
Bryant is in the final year of a two-year deal that will pay him $25 million in 2015-16 and makes him the NBA’s highest-paid player this season. The expiring contract and numerous injuries had led to widespread speculation that Bryant would retire after this season.
Bryant remains in contention for a spot on Team USA’s 12-man roster for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN’s Marc Stein. Colangelo said Bryant’s announcement “doesn’t have any bearing” on the star guard’s status for the Rio Games.
Bryant was drafted out of high school by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick in 1996, then was traded to the Lakers. He helped Los Angeles win NBA titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010 and was named the league’s MVP in 2008. He currently is third on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.
Bryant won the dunk contest at All-Star Weekend as a rookie and played in the All-Star Game for the first time the following year, and a star was quickly born. The 81 points he scored against Toronto on Jan. 22, 2006, are second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in NBA history, and Bryant is the only NBA player to spend 20 consecutive seasons with one team.
