Kobe Bryant Announces He Will Retire At End of the Season

Kobe Bryant, the 17 time All Star, 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player, and five time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, announced that he will retire at the end of the 2015-16 NBA season. The 37 year old Bryant is in his 20th season with the Lakers.

Bryant came to the conclusion that he had nothing left in the tank and was OK with stepping away after this season. This isn’t unexpected—he’s been dealing with injuries for the last three years, and the Lakers are an abysmal 2-14 this season. They aren’t going to be challenging for an NBA championship anytime soon.

Besides, he’s done just about everything in the game. Besides his five NBA titles, he’s also won two Olympic Gold Medals in basketball. Bryant was drafted right out of high school, bypassing college basketball. There’s really no reason to hang on, and while it’s always a personal upheaval for long time athletes when they decide to retire, we’re glad he’s not going to be bouncing around from team to team trying to delay the inevitable. He’ll be a sure fire first ballot NBA Hall of Famer as soon as he’s eligible, which would be in 2021.