Go at the right time, while there is still time. Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers star, chose to end, at 37, his career next spring at the end of the 2015-2016 NBA season. “This season is all I have left to give,” , said Bryant, one of the most famous players in the world, in an open letter written as a poem and published on the website The Player’s Tribune.
“I am willing to let go of basketball. My heart can accept criticism, my mind can manage the effort, but my body knows it is time to say goodbye. Dear basketball, you gave a dream in the colors of the Lakers to a six year old child, I always love you for that, but I can not love you as obsessively long time. “
” There is no sadness “
In the wake of this announcement, Bryant who won five NBA championships (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010) with the Lakers, attended the game against Indiana, before 19,000 spectators to whom he had sent an open letter. The Lakers were defeated 107-103 and conceded their fourth defeat in six matches. “There is no sadness, so I had some great moments” , assured KB during a long press conference.
The iconic number 24 Lakers yet lived a Sunday demanding field, and off. Against the Pacers, he scored 13 points with still low success (4 of 20 shooting). Bryant, 37, has also been shown at the last minute why his decision to retire after twenty seasons was right.
A six seconds of the siren, he found himself in position to equalize with a three-point shot, but his weak shot did not even hit the basket: his last action of the match was thus a “airball” . In front, Paul George scored 39 points and offered Pacers their eleventh victory of the season:
“There is Kobe Bryant, no matter its success in shooting, c ‘ was something great to find myself in front of him [Sunday] night because Kobe was my Michael Jordan when I was a teenager. “
During his career, Bryant was named best NBA player or MVP in 2007-2008 and collected records and distinctions as its 17 participations in the All Star Game, the annual match between the best players in the NBA. With the team of the United States, it won two Olympic titles in 2008 and 2012, contributing as the Dream Team of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in 1992, to blow the popularity of basketball throughout the world.
Read: “Kobe Bryant behind the myth”
Dubbed the Black Mamba for his formidable and cold efficiency, Bryant is the third best story marker NBA, behind two other legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. His stats in the 20 seasons of his NBA career are maddening with averages of 25.4 points 5.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists per game.
At 17, he was chosen by 13 th position of the Draft 1996 by Charlotte who, to his great misfortune, soon gives way to the Lakers. After dominating the NBA in the 2000s with three consecutive titles with Shaquille O’Neal, then two more with Pau Gasol, Bryant and the Lakers have their star fade with the emergence of LeBron James, who won two titles with Miami.
Since 2013, it has accumulated serious injury that prevented him to play all of the last three seasons. The sequence ruptured Achilles tendon in April 2013, tibial plateau fracture in his left knee in 2014 and torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder in 2015 has left its mark. He kept for several months the mystery about his intentions at the expiration of his contract in June 2016.
But the disastrous beginning of season the Lakers, who have signed only two wins in 15 games, his poor personal services and inability to endure the hellish schedule NBA convinced him it was time for him to hang up. More and more observers and former players publicly advised him to stop the fees and not to tarnish his prestigious career.
Rape Prosecution
The announcement of his decision was welcomed by old glories like Magic Johnson ( “There will never be another Kobe Bryant” ), singer Justin Timberlake ( “This is one of the true kings of basketball “ and, of course, the President of the NBA, Adam Silver (” I want to thank him for his incredible career and memories that we leave “).
advertising icon throughout the world, among the highest paid athlete in history ($ 300 million in salaries only), married with two children, Bryant has been dealing with justice for rape charges 2003 by an employee of a hotel in Colorado. The case, regulated by a financial agreement away from the courts, has tarnished his image permanently.
Except incredible burst Lakers and unlikely qualification for the playoffs, his last match will take place April 13 at Staples Center in Los Angeles against Utah. However, it may provide a final challenge with Team USA at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The president of the American Federation left the door open: “It would be an honor for me,” , admitted Bryant
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