Kobe Bryant Retires from NBA

By: Faisal Quyyumi, contributing intern 

He is a five-time NBA Champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, seventeen-time NBA All-Star. He has been part of the All-NBA First Team eleven times throughout his illustrious career and nine-times on the All-NBA First Defensive Team. He has scored eighty-one points in a single game along with scoring fifty or more points on 25 separate occasions. He is the third all-time NBA scoring leader after surpassing Michael Jordan last December and trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. He leads the Los Angeles Lakers franchise in 12 different categories.

During high-school, he would show up in the gym shooting jump shots at 5 a.m., and wouldn’t leave practice until hours after it ended. He is none other than Kobe
Bean Bryant.

Kobe Bryant broke the news to his millions of fans through a deeply, unorthodox letter he posted on Twitter. In the letter he talks about how he realizes father time is finally catching up too him after shooting the worst percentages of his career this season and averaging only 15 points per game. He concludes the passionate letter by depicting a scene of a young Kobe Bryant that even his haters won’t be able to forget for years to come; “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. 5…4…3…2…1…Love you always, Kobe”.

Photo credit: USAToday.com & LA Lakers Fan