Kobe Bryant to retire from basketball at end of the season

USA: LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant has announced he will retire from basketball at the end of the season.

The five-time NBA champion is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history but has been hindered by injuries in recent years.

Bryant has spent his entire 20-year career with the LA Lakers, scoring a staggering 32,670 points in the process.

But after a below-par campaign, he has decided it is time to call it a day.

Bryant announced his decision on The Players Tribune, penning a poem to the sport that has given him so much.

In the emotional ode, the 37-year-old admits "my body knows it’s time to say goodbye" adding "I'm ready to let you go."

Bryant addressed the media after Sunday's 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers - revealing his decision had been made a while ago.

He helped the Lakers win NBA titles in 2000, 2001, 20002, 2009 and 2010 - and was named the league's MVP in 2008.

Alongside his form for Los Angeles, he has also won two Olympic gold medals for the United States in Beijing and London.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement: "I join Kobe's millions of fans around the world in congratulating him on an outstanding NBA career and thank him for so many thrilling memories."

 

Kobe Bryant poem in full

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