One of the brightest stars in the history of basketball will end his unbelievable career. The legend of Los Angeles Lakers – Kobe Bryant made a special address by stating that he will ‘hang up the sneakers’ after the end of the 2015/2016 season and will retire from the professional basketball. 37-year-old veteran is haunted by injuries in recent years, and since the beginning of the new campaign in the NBA his performance has become quite unconvincing.
The shooting guard wrote an emotional letter, addressed to all his fans, which was published in ‘The Players’ Tribune’. “This season is all I have left and I can give. My heart can take the blows. My mind can cope with the heavy work. But my body knows it is time to say goodbye,” Kobe Bryant said.
Facts and Stats
Kobe Bryant was born on 23rd August 1978 in Philadelphia. He is the son of the former NBA player Joe Bryant. When he was six years old, his family moved to Italy, where his father played professional basketball. In 1991 his family returned to the USA and Kobe began to play basketball in the team of high school Lower Merion, in his native Philadelphia. In his last year of high school, Bryant led the team to the state title for the first time in 53 years with 30.8 points per game on average. Although earning excellent grades, guaranteeing his admission in any elite college, Bryant decided to join directly the NBA in 1996.
He holds the record for the youngest player in the NBA (17 years old). In the very beginning of his professional career, Bryant had a hard time and played rarely in the first three years for the LA Lakers’ team. With the arrival of Phil Jackson as a coach in 1999, Kobe became a major figure in the team along with Shaquille O’Neal. Then he won three consecutive championships, and after the departure of Shaq, Kobe became the Lakers’ leader. In 2006, in a match against the Toronto Raptors, Bryant scored 81 points, which is the second best achievement in the NBA history. In 2009 he led Los Angeles Lakers to 15th title. He won the award for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the regular season in 2008.
Bryant is a five-time NBA champion, two of these five cases has been voted for the Most Valuable Player of the finals. He has 15 participations in the teams of the season, including 11 in the first team. Kobe Bryant has won the Olympics twice with the USA’s national basketball team.
All the world is now crying for the legend of the basketball. The game will never be the same without the shooting guard of the Los Angeles Lakers!