Kobe Bryant announced his upcoming retirement via a poem on the Players Tribune.  Following the Lakers game against the Pacers, Bryant held a press conference and officially addressed the big news.

“I’ve talked to several players,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to actually be able to pick up the phone and call a lot of my muses and speak to them and kind of get their perspective on what they went through (including Michael Jordan). But ultimately, it’s a decision that I had to make. What do I feel? Do I want to play again or don’t I? It’s a very simple question, but it’s a hard question when you look in the mirror to ask yourself. The reality is, no, I don’t, so why belabor it?”

The hardest part of retiring? “It’s tough to say now,” Bryant said. “I think that question becomes a lot easier to answer when training camp comes around next year and I’m not there. I think that becomes a question that’s a little bit easier to answer. But right now, I feel really at peace with it.”

“I’ve worked so hard and continue to work really, really hard — even though I’ve played like s—. I’ve worked really hard to try not to play like crap,” he said. “I just do everything I possibly can, and I feel good about that.”

“The coolest thing is the messages that I received from other players and they say ‘Thank you for the inspiration.’ ‘Thank you for the lessons, for the mentality.’ Those things are honestly the things that mean the most to me. To have respect from your peers, there’s nothing in the world that can top that.”

*You can read some of the players messages in the gallery above*

Shay Marie: Twitter || Instagram

source: ESPN