Retirement is not easy for NBA players, especially for stars that had countless years of dominance and possibly even championships. However, it all comes to an end eventually, which was the case with Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant as he started to break down towards the backend of his career.
While it was unfortunate to see Bryant begin to suffer significant injuries and not be able to score efficiently anymore, his legacy was solidified already. When he decided to hang it up, the five-time champion began writing children’s books and participating in animated shorts, demonstrating a seamless transition to life without basketball.
A similar story can be shared for Vince Carter, who was a freak athlete that is know for some of the best dunks in league history. But he experienced a familiar end to his career like Bryant and even spoke to Kobe to gain insight about retirement, via Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report:
“So my last year, I did announce that it was my last year. I didn’t announce that I was retiring because I struggled with the word retiring because of everything we just talked about. We play the Nets in Brooklyn, Kobe and Gigi are at the game and dating back to that conversation about you asking me about our competition. Knowing Kobe and his approach and how he was, how he approached the game. He didn’t have a lot of friends and he didn’t care. We were cool then throughout our years, we went at it, like about to have a fist fight after it, that’s what it was. See him and to see the smile on his face, the hug, the conversation we had was unbelievable and I asked him about that word [retiring], how is it? He said, ‘Man, It is the greatest thing ever, it’s the best feeling. You’re gonna enjoy it. This side is not that bad because I get a chance now to coach my daughter, be there for her,’ so on and so forth. And I’m like, if Kobe Bryant, who we all know him to be an a-hole and degenerate of this game can say that to me, I can say, ‘I’m retiring.’ And from that day forward, he in that conversation gave me the opportunity, low and behold he said, ‘Hey, we will get together and have a conversation about it, we will talk more about it.’ In January, he passed, it was a couple weeks later, which was on my birthday.”
For a competitor of Bryant’s stature, it is rewarding to hear how much he enjoyed life after basketball and found joy in doing the little things. Then for Carter not to be able to follow up on that conversation stings, but at least Bryant provided him comfort in stepping away from basketball.
Sky’s Angel Reese thinks of Kobe Bryant when holding Larry O’Brien Trophy
When it comes to thinking about the NBA, it is hard to not mention Kobe Bryant and his five championships. That is the case for Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese, who thought about the Mamba when holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
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