Kobe Bryant Announces He Will Retire After Season

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant announced that this season will indeed be his last in the NBA. He made the announcement by penning a heartfelt poem posted on The Players Tribune.

Bryant declared that “this season is all I have left to give.”

The veteran shooting guard is in the final year of his contract with the Lakers and has hinted repeatedly that this would likely be his last year. Bryant has had a film crew traveling with him and the Lakers all season, documenting what most believed would be his final NBA campaign.

Here is an excerpt of the piece:

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.