NBA superstar Kobe Bryant mulling retirement–report

Has the time come for NBA superstar Kobe Bryant to retire? (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

MANILA, Philippines—Has the time come for Kobe Bryant to hang up his sneakers?

Suffering recurring injuries which have limited his production and playing time, the 36-year-old Los Angeles Lakers guard said that retirement has “crossed (his) mind.”

“I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t crossed my mind. Right now I doubt it … but anything’s possible,” Bryant told the Los Angeles Times after his team lost to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“My body is hurting like crazy, around the clock, and if I don’t want to do this anymore, I won’t do it,” he said.

Because of a knee injury, the Black Mamba only played six games and was forced to miss a good part of the 2013-2014 NBA season which saw the Lakers place second to the last in the Western Conference with a 27-55 win-loss record.

The Lakers are not doing any better now that Bryant is back to playing. They are at 12-30, a record which is better than only three teams.

Bryant is averaging 22.6 points per game on 34.6 minutes per outing this season, which is a shade under his career averages of 36.5 mpg and 25.4 ppg. At the height of his career, he would register more than 35 ppg on more than 40 minutes of action.

In 2014, he surpassed Michael Jordan as third leading scorer in NBA history only behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. He has been playing in the NBA for 18 years already.

One of the highest-paid athletes in the entire world, Bryant said he is unfazed by the amount of money he is set to lose once he retires.

“I don’t care about the money,” he said. “If I don’t feel like doing it, I won’t do it.”

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