Kobe Bryant to Retire After Current Season

Kobe Bryant has officially announced his retirement.

The basketball megastar wrote, in a poem posted on the player’s Tribute, that he will retire from the sport after this season on the LA Lakers.

The news is so big that the site that housed Bryant’s farewell crashed from all the traffic very shortly after it was posted.

The 37-year-old Olympic champion admitted in his note that his body can only handle the grind of professional sports for so long. The basketball legend has been plagued by injuries for the past five seasons, leaving him hoping on and off the bench.

Bryant previously signed a two-year deal with the LA Lakers, which is up after this season.

Read the full poem below.

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

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