Kobe Bryant to retire after this season

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2015-16 NBA season. He made the announcement via a poem he wrote entitled “Dear Basketball” for the Players’ Tribune. Simply put, the poem expresses Bryant’s love for the game and how he has to sadly bid it goodbye. The 37-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist has played 20 seasons for the Lakers. He helped add five more championship trophies to the franchise’ already stocked trophy case, three from 2000 to 2002, and two more in 2009 and 2010.

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.

The future Hall-of-Famer will go down in history as one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball.