The end is near for Kobe Bryant, even he is admitting it. As his Los Angeles Lakers struggle through the season, the 36-year-old isn’t scoffing at thoughts of calling it a career.
Kobe Bryant admits retirement has ‘crossed my mind’
The Los Angeles Lakers star tells reporters, “Right now I doubt it ... but anything’s possible.”
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
“I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t crossed my mind,” Bryant told Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. “Right now I doubt it ... but anything’s possible.”
Coming off a season in which he only played six games after rupturing his achilles in the 80th game of the 2012-13 season, Bryant is in a battle against time. “My body is hurting like crazy, around the clock,” he said.
Bryant has played 34 of the Lakers’ 41 games this season. He’s averaging 22.6 points, 5.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 34.6 minutes per game. Now in his 19th year in the league, he’s a far cry from the numbers he put up in his prime. Bryant averaged 35.4 points per game in the 2006-07 season and has averaged 25.6 points per game for his career.
The Lakers are 12-29 this season, which is the second-worst record in the Western Conference. They’re 11.5 games out of playoff contention. The Lakers are far from a team that’s capable of delivering a sixth championship ring to Bryant. And he’s left thinking about his career coming to a close.
For now, however, he’s going to keep on playing -- just as long as he feels like it.
“I don’t care about the money,” he said. “If I don’t feel like doing it, I won’t do it.”
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