Kobe Bryant is nearing the end of a long, amazing career. The Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard announced his retirement earlier this season. Since then, he has been showered with love at every arena he’s visited, from fans chanting his name in his hometown of Philadelphia to getting a tribute video from Michael Jordan in Charlotte.
Before the season, Bryant seemed to be totally against any sort of farewell tour. The career-long “villain” wanted the same hostile road environments that he played in throughout his twenty years in the league. After all of the celebrations of his career, however, it seems that Kobe is starting to warm up to the idea.
The following from Ken Berger of CBS Sports:
“It kind of turned into that, didn’t it?” he told me on his way to the bus, having run the gauntlet of good-byes and thank-yous and can-I-get-a-pictures that must have been almost as exhausting as getting his 37-year-old body ready to play in this building one last time.
“I wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction, to be truly honest,” he said. “But it’s been pleasantly surprising to me to be able to have this experience. And to be honest with you, it feels good. It feels damn good.”
This season has not gone well for Kobe and for the Lakers. The team has struggled and despite Bryant’s best efforts to pull out vintage plays, he has not been great either. It is nice to see, however, that Kobe is able to take some positives away from the season. Seeing the legend get praise everywhere he plays as well as seeing him enjoy it is a pleasant sight.
