DEAR KOBE. A farewell letter from A Basketball

"This season is all I have left to give." @kobebryant pens a letter to basketball: https://t.co/hu5CUoXHhJ pic.twitter.com/1ogKdH7buP

— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) November 29, 2015

Now it's time for you to read an exclusive to SB Nation: The heartfelt reply to Kobe's letter from the object closest to him: A Basketball.

Kobe,

From the beginning

You were different.

Nobody could drop me

Into the net's sweet caress

Like you did

You did it with love

Practice and precision.

* * *

From any distance.

Swish.

From any angle.

Swish.

No matter how much time was left.

Swish.

Over and over. Swish, swish, swish.

* * *

But Kobe

Stop it

Stop now

Stop fucking shooting me

Please stop fucking shooting me

I'm begging you

Stop

It hurts

Do you know how much it hurts to be thrown super hard into a cold metal rim

Bruh

That shit hurts

A lot

I know it's my job

But dude

You're shooting 30.5 percent

20.2 percent from three

The threes hurt more

Because you throw me from farther away

The iron pierces my soft pebbled leather skin

* * *

And the airballs!

Kobe! The airballs!

It hurts to fall 18 feet out of the air and crash straight into the ground

Sometimes I hit the stanchion or some cameraman's leg

* * *

You said you're done at the end of the season

I need you to be done NOW

I don't want my last memory

Of our beautiful relationship

To be these clangs

And not the trillion swishes.

Love,

A Basketball