On Nov. 29, Kobe Bryant announced to the world that after 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers, he was going to retire at the end of the season. This was of course the first time Bryant publicly revealed that he was going to retire, a decision that he was hinting at for months.
Privately, Bryant may have first let on that he was going to retire in a cold tub talk with Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade. But according to Lakers head coach Byron Scott, he was the first to know about Bryant's decision because, well, Kobe told him mid-game the night before the announcement.
From ESPN's Baxter Holmes:
In an interview with ESPN on Friday, Scott revealed the details of that exchange, which he said occurred at the start of the third quarter of the Lakers' 108-96 loss to the Trail Blazers on Saturday.
"I said, 'KB, I played you 20 minutes in the first half. I'm going to cut those minutes down. I've got to cut them down,'" Scott said after his team's morning shootaround ahead of their game against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. "He said, 'That's good, coach. That's all right. I'm going to announce my retirement after the game.'"
Scott said he was stunned.
"I said, 'What?!'" Scott recalled. "That was the shock part. I was in that state for the rest of the game. Even when I was watching him play [and] I was watching him running up and down, I'm going, 'Did he just tell me [that]?'"
Scott said he had no idea Bryant was going to give him that news, much less at that time.
"I told him the next day, 'You know you shocked the s--- out of me when you told me that,'" Scott said. "He just started laughing. I said, 'You really did.' He said, 'I know. I could see it on your face.'"
What was most striking to Scott was Bryant's demeanor in the moment.
"It was so casual. It was kind of cool," Scott said. "[As a] matter [of] fact, he said, 'You're the first to know.' He said, 'Coach, you're the first to know that I'm going to announce my retirement.'
Ah, so now it makes sense why Scott said he was shocked by Bryant's decision the day of the announcement. Bryant delivered it at a moment Scott was least suspecting it, in such a nonchalant manner which caught him completely off-guard.
Leave it to Bryant to not only publish a poem announcing his retirement but to also tell his coach about his decision midway through a game. There will truly never be another player in the history of the NBA like Kobe Bryant.
