NBA News 2015: Kobe Bryant Announces Retirement After 2015-2016 Season
Los Angeles Lakers franchise player Kobe Bryant has announced his intent to retire after the NBA's 2015-2016 regular season.
"The Black Mamba", who has been plagued by various injuries since 2013 which kept him on the sidelines for a great majority of the past NBA seasons, made his declaration through a poem entitled "Dear Basketball", which was published on The Players Tribune.
The 37-year-old player wrote how much he loved the game of basketball and how it has helped shape him up to become the person he is today, noting how his "Laker dream" as a six-year old boy has been fulfilled.
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"I played through the sweat and hurt, not because challenge called me, but because YOU called me," Bryant wrote. "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," he continued. "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."
Bryant was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996 as the 13th overall pick but was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Along the way, he was able to help bring the Purple and Gold team five NBA titles.
As an individual player, he was able to bag two NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards, and a season MVP award in the year 2008. He also made 17 NBA All-Star appearances, where he won the MVP plum four times.
His injury woes began in April 2013, when he suffered a torn Achilles tendon, which immediately ended his season.
He suffered the same setback in the middle of the 2014-2015 season, when he tore the rotator cuff on his right shoulder early this year, which again, put an abrupt end to his season.
