Kobe Bryant says he has to retire inevitably, but still has two to three more seasons left in him – NBA News
As Kobe Bryant prepares for his 17th NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers, the 34 year old superstar must be thinking about retirement and how he wants to go out of the league. Bryant has accomplished a great deal
in the NBA and surely, financial issues will not be the deciding factor for him. Instead, he will think about his legacy, how he is remembered, and in what way does he want to bow out. But in a recent interview, the future Hall of Famer made it clear that
he has some basketball left in him and that he is not going anywhere for the next two to three seasons.
In a recent interview with CBSSports.com, Bryant said that he has thought about his retirement, and will probably play out his current contract, which expires at the end of the 2013-14 season. And he was pretty okay talking about
his retirement, saying that he always had a timeline in his mind, right from the start of his career.
"I said when I was 17 that I'd be done when I was 35. It shouldn't be anything new. It's inevitable. It's gotta come. I'm not going to play 25 years,” said Bryant.
Bryant also talked about the physical and mental preparation he has to go through before each and every NBA season, and accepted the fact that having played 16 seasons already, he knows he cannot continue to put himself through
that for a very long time.
“It's always the mental part. Physically, you know what you have to adjust to. Whether it's a knee injury or an ankle injury, whatever it is. But the mentality of preparing year in and year out, it's been 17 years and every offseason
has been more work than the regular season. It's a lot of work,” added Bryant.
For the moment, Bryant is looking towards the next season with a strengthened Lakers roster that saw the addition of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in the offseason, making the Lakers favourites to win the NBA title next season.
With Bryant having a great team around him, he might be aiming for one or two more NBA titles before he says goodbye to the game, and if he feels he can perhaps play beyond his current contract and clinch an NBA title, he may extend his retirement plans further.
The upcoming season will be important for Bryant, as it will help him decide when he bows out, and give him a better understanding of how realistic his expectations are from the coming two years.
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