Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant has announced that he willretire at the end of the season.
Bryant, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history, has scored 32,683 points during a 20-year career with the LA Lakers to rank third on the NBA’s all-time list.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist, 37, has been hindered by injuries in recent seasons and has been below his best this year for the Lakers.
He told the Players’ Tribune: “My body knows it’s time to say goodbye.”
Bryant has averaged more than 25 points per game in his 1,293 NBA matches.
His final game is set to be at home against Utah on 13 April.
The Lakers have won just twice so far this season, with Bryant averaging 15.7 points per game.
In a poem entitled ‘Dear Basketball’, Bryant announced “this season is all I have left to give”.
The Philadelphia-born player added: “You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream. And I’ll always love you for it. But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.”
He ended the poem without hinting at what he might do next.
“We both know, no 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,” he wrote.
