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Kobe Bryant confirms retirement after 2015-16 season

By Trisity Miller

Jan 21, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) with head coach Byron Scott against the New Orleans Pelicans during a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Lakers 96-80. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 21, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) with head coach Byron Scott against the New Orleans Pelicans during a game at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Lakers 96-80. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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The end is around the corner for Kobe Bryant as the guard confirms he’s retiring after ’15-16.

The end of an era ladies and gentlemen.

With his contract ending after the 2015-16 NBA season, many expected that time to be when Kobe Bryant, five-time NBA champion as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, decides to hang his career up; and if not, he’d transition into the “Michael Jordan on the Wizards’ part of his career. But it looks like Bryant has no interest in following the footsteps of his idol as ABC reports, ’15-16 will be the last we see of the Black Mamba.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

"The L.A. Lakers’ Kobe Bryant has been contemplating life after basketball since he was 22. Now that he’s 36, out due to injury and close to retirement, he says he’ll play one more season and finish his two-year contract, which will net him $25 million. But his recent experience as the subject and executive producer of the intimate doc Kobe Bryant’s Muse — produced by Gotham Chopra (Deepak’s son) and airing Feb. 28 on Showtime — has opened up the possibility of a career behind the lens. “There are so many other stories to be told,” he says, adding that he’d like to profile Phil Jackson and Apple designer Jonathan Ive."

Regardless of how you feel about Bryant, it’s bitter sweet to see one of the game’s biggest stars. Since Michael Jordan first retired in 1998, the league has done it’s hardest to find a replacement for Your Heirness and none other than Kobe Bryant has played the role best.

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Like most superstars, Bryant’s campaign to gain another championship ring — his 6th would match Jordan’s ring total — father time intervened to cut Bryant’s attempts just short. In three consecutive seasons, Bryant has faced season-ending injuries starting with an achilles tear at the end of the tumultous 2012-13 season; the following season, Bryant’s return would be curbed by a knee fracture and this past season, a shoulder injury ended Bryant’s year.

While losing Bryant sucks from a general fan standpoint, for the first time, the NBA gets to celebrate one of it’s megastars’ retirement as MLB teams did recently with former New York Yankess shortstop Derek Jeter — for the NBA, the most recent notable retirement tour was Larry Bird in 1992.

At it’s end, while there may be few regrets from Bryant (mainly personal spats), there aren’t many in the book who’ve done it better than Bryant has. But if you’ve paid attention to this past season, it’s time for it all to end, for Bryant’s health and that of the Los Angeles Lakers. Hopefully the basketball Gods allow Bryant to complete his final season in full so fans across the NBA can get their last change to appreciate (or hate) the future Hall of Famer.

Five rings. Seven NBA Finals appearances. Two Finals MVPs. One league MVP. Several other important accolades. It’s been a great run for #24.

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