LA Lakers' Bryant says this is last season of epic career
Kobe Bryant says he still loves 競争, but 収容する／認めるs that his 団体／死体 can no longer 扱う the rigors of professional basketball as he 発表するd that this will be his final NBA season.
"I had to come to 条件 with it," said Bryant, speaking on Sunday after the Lakers 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Los Angeles. "I had to 受託する the fact I didn't want to do this anymore."
The 37-year-old five-time 支持する／優勝者 will retire as one of the greatest clutch players in history, and after spending his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kobe Bryant, 37, has won five NBA 栄冠を与えるs in a 20-year career spent 完全に with the Los Angeles Lakers ?Robyn Beck (AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
"I have known for awhile. I am very solid with this 決定／判定勝ち（する）," he said. "If I had a 燃やすing 願望（する） to play I would.
"I don't want to get too Zen like. But my mind always started drifting toward basketball and it doesn't do that all the time anymore. To me that is the first 指示する人（物） that this game isn't something I can obsess over much longer."
Bryant, a member of two Olympic US gold メダル squads, has been nagged by 傷害s in 最近の campai gns and has struggled to find his form this season, as the Lakers are off to a 哀れな 2-14 start.
Bryant said that にもかかわらず the 傷害s, the never-ending rehabs and the habitual losing over the last few seasons, he is still enjoys getting out on the 床に打ち倒す and going into 戦う／戦い.
- 'Beauty in adversity' -
"There is no sadness in this," he said. "I had such 広大な／多数の／重要な times.
"I find beauty in adversity and not 存在 able to play at the highest level.
"I see beauty when I get up in the morning with 苦痛 because I know the hard work it took to get to this point."
Bryant has 普通の／平均（する）d 25.4 points, 5.3 回復するs and 4.8 補助装置s over 1,280 games.
This season, with the Lakers stripped of much of the supporting cast that usually 支えるs him, Bryant was 普通の／平均（する）ing 15.7 points, 4.1 回復するs and 3.4 補助装置s 長，率いるing into Sunday's game.
Bryant also said it is いつかs 失望させるing not 存在 able to make a 削減（する）, 運動 hard to the basket or keep his balance when chasing a loose ball like he used to when he was younger and healthier.
"I worked so hard. Really, really hard to try not to play like crap," he said.
Bryant was introduced to a roaring ovation when the Sunday game began.
Bryant said that he gave each 観客 a "special message" printed on white paper with gold and 黒人／ボイコット lettering that read, "My love to this city, this team and for each of you will never fade. Thank you for this incredible 旅行."
Before the game, Bryant （手先の）技術d a goodbye poem to basketball which was 地位，任命するd on The Players' Tribune websit e. In the poem he hearkened 支援する to his boyhood days and dreams of playing in the 国家の Basketball 協会.
"I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to speak to the game," Bryant said. "Which is weird because I never spoke to the game. Once I decided to 令状 from that 視野, the words just （機の）カム."
He said that he left "no 石／投石する unturned" in the 追跡 of basketball excellence.
"My heart can take the 続けざまに猛撃するing, My mind can 扱う the grind, But my 団体／死体 knows it's time to say goodbye," he wrote in his poem. "And that's 承認する. 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."
- Confided in Jordan -
Bryant got off to a slow start Sunday, 行方不明の his 初期の six 発射s before getting his first basket of the game over eight minutes into the first ４半期/4分の1. He finished with 13 points.
Barring another 傷害, Bryant's final game would be at home against Utah on April 13.
The road 部分 of his 別れの（言葉，会） 小旅行する begins Tuesday at Philadelphia, his hometown, where the 0-18 76ers will be trying to 避ける the worst start in NBA history.
"So much of my game was developed in Philadelphia," Bryant said.
Bryant said he 現実に made up his mind in the offseason, and one of the first people he told was former Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan.
"I asked him how did you know? How was it for you?
"He said 'just enjoy it. Don't let anyone take that away from you'."
Bryant said one of the things he hopes to do after this season is to make films and 文書のs like the one he recently made called "Kobe Bryant's Muse."
"There are some things I am 熱烈な about. I was born to play basketball. I had to really work to try and 人物／姿／数字 out what to do next.
"I am a 物語を話す人／作家. I love putting pieces of a puzzle together. I didn't know it until I made the Muse film. I have 燃やすing 願望（する）s there."
Kobe Bryant, a member of two Olympic gold メダル squads, has been nagged by 傷害s in 最近の seasons and struggled to find form this season ?Robyn Beck (AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
Kobe Bryant has 普通の／平均（する）d 25.4 points, 5.3 回復するs, 4.8 補助装置s and 1.5 steals over 1,280 games ?Frederic J. Brown (AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, seen during their NBA game against against the Golden 明言する／公表する 軍人s, at ORACLE 円形競技場 in Oakland, California, on November 24, 2015 ?Thearon W. Henderson (Getty/AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
