Kobe Bryant told Byron Scott he was retiring in the middle of a game
You think you had the week’s top “Kobe Bryant gave me the heads-up on retiring” story, Dwyane Wade? Well, think again. Your “Kobe telling me to bring my kids to the game while sitting in a cold tub” tale didn’t even last one full day atop this particular set of power rankings, thanks to the Mamba’s chosen means of informing Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott of his future plans.
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The scoop comes to us, as many good Laker-y things do, from ESPN.com’s Baxter Holmes:
What has remained secret until now is how the 37-year-old Bryant delivered the news to Scott: during a game.
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.
You could really tell. Just look at how locked-in and engaged Scott seemed earlier in the game:
… and how beside himself and flustered he seemed after the revelation:
(OK, OK, you got me. That picture’s actually from L.A.’s Nov. 16 game against the Phoenix Suns. By the way, have you noticed that Byron Scott likes to stand on the sidelines, nearly motionless and emotionless, with his arms folded across his chest? Yeah, me too.)
While Scott felt quite understandably scattered after the stunning disclosure, Bryant himself proceeded with business as usual. He’d scored 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting in 15 minutes, 39 seconds of first-half playing time; he went on to score six more on 2-for-8 shooting in 15 minutes, 44 seconds of second-half burn. The Lakers lost by 12, their fifth straight defeat; afterward, Bryant spoke about the difficulties he’d been facing throughout his attempt to come back from a third-straight season-ending injury in this, his 20th season in Laker purple and gold.
“It’s tough,” Bryant said, according to Anne M. Peterson of The Associated Press. “After almost 20 years, it’s tough. The legs aren’t what they used to be. But I just continue to fight through and take the opportunities when they are there.”
Including, it seems, the opportunity to shock the hell out of his former teammate and current coach.
The following afternoon, Bryant published his now-famous love poem to basketball through The Players Tribune, announcing to the entire non-Byron Scott world that he intends to retire at the end of this season. Thus began a farewell tour that has already been fascinating for multiple reasons, and promises to continue apace over the course of the next four months, and one that has left us all — including Scott, who’s been part of Bryant’s NBA life since its very beginning — trying to figure out where we go from here. From Holmes:
“I’m just sitting there going, ‘Wow,'” Scott said. “I’m really thinking, ‘That’s the end of an era, because this kid has been unbelievable.’ And I’ve known him since he was 17 years old. I was kind of just reminiscing how it’s been such a great journey to know him and watch his evolution, the way he’s come from 17, 18 years old, this rookie that I knew to this man that is now an icon.”
Scott probably didn’t realize that evolution included development into the kind of sneak-attacker who would drop a bombshell like that in the middle of a live NBA game. I guess no matter how often you watch a black mamba in action, you’re never fully ready for it to strike.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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