Kobe Bryant hasn't made anything official, but he's been dropping plenty of clues that the current NBA season, his 20th in the league, will indeed be his last.
He's also said as much, though always with the qualification that he may change his mind.
But with Bryant's body already breaking down just a few weeks into the season, the idea that he'd somehow be able to put it through another season seems far-fetched, and he admitted this in an interview on SiriusXM this morning.
"If something changes I'll come back and play next season," Bryant said, via Frank Isola of the New York Daily News. "If something doesn't change this is it for me."
Bryant shared some other nuggets of honesty during the interview, one of which saw him essentially admit that there won't be any more championships in his future.
Bryant sighed and laughed about the state of his health.
These are things that have been obvious to anyone who's watched Bryant struggle with health issues in recent years. But the fact that he's coming to terms with it all makes it seem certain that his playing days are coming to a close.
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