Kobe seems to have softened a little on his feelings about retirement. The additions of fellow All-Stars Dwight Howard and Steve Nash may have reignited a burning desire in Kobe and Lakers legend says he now wants to play until he’s 40-years old.
Kobe’s statement in October indicated that he may have been considering hanging up the boots after his current deal expires.
It’s just that three more years seems like a really long time to continue to stay at a high, high level of training and preparation and health,” Bryant said. “That’s a lot of years. For a guard? That’s a lot of years.
“It’s not about health necessarily, it’s about ‘Do I want to do it? Do I have that hunger to continue to prepare at a high level?’ ”
He no longer feels that way apparently according to words he said to a Turkish reporter.
“My aim is to play until I’m 40 years old and I believe I can do that. This year, we added very good players to our squad. Steve Nash, Dwight Howard will make us stronger. Right now, things are not going very well but I believe it’ll get better soon.”
“During the lock-out, I had offers from Turkey and other countries. Be?ikta? was interested in me and they had talks with my agent, but I want to use the lock-out time to recover from my injuries and spend more time with my family so I turned the offers down. Who knows, maybe one day I play basketball in Turkey.”
Even though he’s stated he wants to play until that age, he didn’t specify if he wishes to remain in the NBA or play overseas at some point.
