"This season is all I have left to give." So there it is. End the speculation: Kobe Bryant is going to retire — after this season.
The Lakers guard wrote a poem entitled "Dear Basketball" on The Players Tribune, Derek Jeter's athlete-generated media site which Bryant has partnered with in the past.
In it, he wrote about everything basketball has meant to him and made very clear that he will be hanging up his sneakers after this season — which has gone rather poorly by his (or anyone's) standards.
Bryant is averaging 15.7 points a game on 31.5 percent shooting for the 2-13 Lakers.
Coach Byron Scott has stuck by him, but it's clear he is not the player he once was. Bryant is third in NBA history in career points and has won five championships.
Here's an excerpt from his poem:
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.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver issued a statement on Bryant's announcement:
“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. 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.”
As Complex Sports' Russ Bengtson points out, Michael Jordan issued a similar letter upon his third and final retirement from the game. "Dear Basketball, It's been 28 years since I saw you in the back of our garage. 28 years since our parents introduced us," Jordan wrote in a 2003 newspaper advertisement, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Bryant always has followed Jordan's lead. It appears he's ready to follow it out the door, too.