Kobe Bryant Calls It A Career

DJ November 30, 2015

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Kobe Bryant Calls It A Career

Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers has decided it’s time to call it a career.

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“My body knows it’s time to say goodbye” Bryant wrote on the Players Tribune website, poetically announcing that he will retire at the end of the current season.

The 37-year-old Kobe Bryant spent his entire 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, scoring 32,683 points, ranking 3rd on the NBA’s all-time list, averaging more than 25 points per game in 1,293 NBA matches, and earning 2 Olympic gold medals. However, multiple injuries over the past several seasons left the fiery superstar a mere shell of his former self, forcing the future Hall of Famer to accept the fate of “Father Time” — it was time to move on.

In Sunday’s announcement, Bryant insisted he is “at peace” with his decision and “excited for what’s to come.”

Dear Basketball,

From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.

And so I ran.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.

I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
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 want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have.

And we both know, no matter what I do next
I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Love you always,
Kobe

Kobe Bryant is currently on a farewell tour of the NBA, with a camera crew following him from city to city to document the end of an era. His final NBA game with the LA Lakers will be at home against Utah on April 13, 2016