Kobe Bryant’s 20 Years Comes to an End

Kobe Bryant was in the NBA for 20 years, until this being his final season. After winning five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant decided to retire. In a first-person story titled “Dear Basketball,” the 37-year-old wrote in the form of a poem that the sport “gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream/And I’ll always love you (NBA) for it.”

Bryant’s decision is not totally unexpected, given that he has said many times in recent weeks that he has considered making this season his last. After two decades, two Olympic gold medals, five championship rings, 17 All-Star selections, an 81-point game that ranks as the second-best in NBA history and more than 32,000 points, Bryant’s career has officially wound down.

This season has been a struggle for Bryant, whose young and rebuilding Lakers are mired at the bottom of the Western Conference standings; he’s also shooting a career-worst 31.5 percent. Injuries have dogged him in recent years as well, limiting him to 41 of a possible 164 games the previous two seasons. Bryant is averaging more field goal attempts per game this season (a team-high 16.7) than points (15.7). His field goal percentage and 3-point percentage both rank last in the NBA among qualified players.

Bryant remains in contention for a spot on Team USA’s 12-man roster for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN’s Marc Stein. Colangelo said Bryant’s announcement “doesn’t have any bearing” on the star guard’s status for the Rio Games.

Bryant won the dunk contest at All-Star Weekend as a rookie and played in the All-Star Game for the first time the following year, and a star was quickly born. The 81 points he scored against Toronto on Jan. 22, 2006, are second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in NBA history, and Bryant is the only NBA player to spend 20 consecutive seasons with one team.