(video courtesy of ESPN.com)

As the world joked about the LA Clippers having a better record this season than the beloved LA Lakers, Kobe Bryant came to a realization, "I don't want to do this anymore."  In well penned poem on The Players' Tribune Kobe admitted that his time in the game was coming to a close.

 

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.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

(excerpt from "Dear Basketball" by Kobe Bryant)

 

Fans initially heard of Kobe's decision via a tweet he shared linking to the poem an image of which you see above.

In fact the tweet drove so much traffic to The Players' Tribune site that it crashed.  Kobe's announcement also prompted public responses from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, and Lakers Head Coach Byron Scott.  See their respective comments below.

 

(Photos courtesy of Twitter)