We've seen retirement press conferences. We've seen retirement open letters. We've seen retirement tweets.
On Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant gave us a first: a retirement poem.
In a piece posted on the Players' Tribune, Bryant wrote a poem titled "Dear Basketball," which announces the future Hall of Famer's intention to retire after the 2015-16 season:
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.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.
Bryant, 37, will sit down with Robin Roberts of Good Morning America to further discuss the decision. In the final season of a two-year extension he signed with the Lakers in 2013, Bryant is averaging 15.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game—all numbers that rank among the worst of his career.
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said Bryant remains "in contention" for a roster spot for Team USA in the 2016 Olympics, per ESPN's Marc Stein.
continued on Bleacher Report
