Lakers coach shocked by Bryant retirement

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) walks on the floor during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015.

And now, finally, Bryant’s final season with the Lakers can take its rightful place among National Basketball Association farewells – instead of the pathetic punchline that it was becoming.

Marcus Stroman says it’s a sad day because he wants to watch Bryant play “for the rest of my lifetime”. “What you’ve done for me is far greater than anything I’ve done for you”, Bryant wrote.

Kobe Bryant will be remembered, like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, as one of the greatest players of all time. “And I’m thankful for it”. I can go all the way back to when he was this young guy out there just shooting in the dark at the Forum before the lights came on, before practice was 2-3 hours away, to this point where he’s still at the practice facility 2-3 hours before everybody else getting shots up. The announcement caused the crash of the Players Tribune website. Bryant is the NBA’s highest-paid player this season with a $25 million salary bestowed on him by grateful Lakers owner Jim Buss despite his recent injury problems. Lakers head coach Byron Scott had also acknowledged a few weeks ago that Bryant told him this was likely his last go around. LeBron James – a forward who has played 7 years less than Bryant – has more overall career assists. Now it’s time that we cherish and enjoy every one of them as the future Hall-of-Famer deserves a hero’s exit from the game. Your doubt gave me determination to prove you wrong. “They’re just not in position right now to do that”. I told him he kind of shocked me when he told me. “But from a standpoint of seeing one of this era’s greatest players go out in a rebuilding process, it’s tough”. Besides the five championships, he has two Olympic gold medals, 17 All-Star selections, the second-best average points in National Basketball Association history at 81 and over 32,000 points spread over two decades.