Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history, will retire at the end of the 2015-16 season.
Bryant has reportedly scored 32,683 points during a 20-year career with the LA Lakers to rank third on the NBA’s all-time list.
The 37 year-old Olympic gold medalist, has been hindered by injuries in recent seasons and has been below his best this year for the Lakers.
In a poem entitled ‘Dear Basketball’, Bryant announced ‘this season is all I have left to give’.
He told the Players’ Tribune: ‘My body knows it’s time to say goodbye.’
His final game is set to be at home against Utah on 13 April.
READ: Kobe Bryant surpasses Micheal Jordan on NBA all-time scoring list.
The Philadelphia-born player added: ‘You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream. And I’ll always love you for it. But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.’
He ended the poem without hinting at what he might do next.
‘We both know, no matter what I do next, I’ll always be that kid, with the rolled up socks, garbage can in the corner, :05 seconds on the clock, ball in my hands,’ he wrote.
