In this moment, it’s difficult to imagine the NBA without Kobe Bryant, but the sad truth is we’ve already been living that reality.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend has announced this will be his final season playing the game he’s devoted his life to, yet the Kobe we’ll remember hasn’t been around for some time now.
I knew it. You knew it. Kobe himself knew it. His retirement is as inevitable as the buzzer-beating fadeaway jumpers he’d attempt with games hanging in the balance, only the ball doesn’t go in anymore.
– NBA: Kobe says this is last season of his career
– NBA: Grizzlies send 76ers to 18th straight loss
Sometimes, like on the night of his retirement announcement, it doesn’t even graze the rim.
The 37-year-old is a shell of himself, the same defiance that once made him great now eroding his efficiency as he ends his career on his own terms. Would you have expected anything else?
There will be never be another Michael Jordan, but Kobe is the closest thing we’ll ever get. And as MJ did, Kobe has decided how he wants to end it.
Not near the top of his game, or as a role player on a championship contender, or even as a mentor for the next generation. He’s going out firing away.
Whether or not he’s earned that, or how much it’s hurting the Lakers right now is up for debate, but this was always how it was going to go down. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gotten the most important player of his generation.
Tim Duncan, in the minds of many, including mine, was the best player of his era, but Kobe was what we needed.
When @kobebryant officially retires should the lakers retire both numbers #8 & #24 ?
— MarQuis Trill (@6BillionPeople) December 1, 2015
The post-Jordan NBA was desperate for a superstar to take over the mantle and carry the league forward.
Duncan, for everything he’s accomplished, never had the personality or glamour to be that face. Kobe had it in spades.
It certainly helped he was cast in glitziest city of all, but Kobe would have been just as popular anywhere thanks to his game and mentality.
The younger generation that didn’t get to watch Jordan all their life but knew what made him special gravitated to Kobe. MJ’s ability to take over games? Kobe had it. MJ’s ruthless competitive spirit? Kobe had it.
It wasn’t to the same legendary level of Jordan but Kobe was damn close and those that never got the chance to appreciate MJ could see him embodied through his impersonator.
And impersonate Kobe has. He’s tried so hard to be like Jordan – from the fadeaways to the celebrations to the number change – that it revealed just how much of a narcissist he is.
I will never forget the memories made with my family watching @kobebryant take the #Lakers to back to back to back championships
— Jasmine Jordan (@TheRealJasmineJ) December 1, 2015
Kobe outwardly preaches winning above everything else, but in his mind, his image of winning has to coincide with him being the alpha and shouldering the burden.
That’s why he’s had such prickly relationships with many team-mates and why he’s always been a high-volume player.
It’s also the reason why he’s going out like this, as a $25 million expiring contract whose absence will finally allow the Lakers to rebuild or reload.
Wherever you want to rank him in the pantheon of greats, it’s all subjective. What can’t be disputed, however, is his place as theatre.
Kobe was and continues to be a must-watch show, even long after the curtain had already fallen.
