Today, LA Laker's player Kobe Bryant announced his retirement from basketball with a heartfelt poem posted on The Players' Tribune.
Bryant is a five-time champion and has had a career average of 25.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. The announcement of the 37-year-olds retirement comes during his 20th season in the NBA, one which Bryant has appeared to be struggling through, now averaging only 15.7 points per game and a career-worst 31.5 shooting percentage.
In Bryant's retirement poem “Dear Basketball,” he writes, “This season is all I have left to give… But my body know it's time to say goodbye.”
Here's the last part of Byrant's poem, which when posted online made The Players' Tribue site intermittently crash. For the full poem, head here.
“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, now 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"