Kobe Bryant knows that Kobe Bryant is old.
At 37, the Black Mamba is playing through his 20th season, still a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and now the only player in league history to spend two decades wearing one uniform. That kind of longevity provides perspective. You begin to appreciate the game more. The lifestyle more. The memories more. Even the media more.
You begin to realize that, two decades into your career, one that’s spanned five championships, numerous generational shifts, trade demands and endless roster turnover, you’re frickin’ old.
Said Kobe after the Lakers’ 112-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, per Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears:
“It felt good to be out there. I felt like I could have babysat the entire floor, fathered the entire floor.”
Well, now.
The Lakers have just three players aged 22 or younger. The Timberwolves have five. So if Kobe had decided to start a family super young, then yeah, he’s old enough to be the father of, say, a 19-year-old Karl-Anthony Towns.
The babysitter quip is a more accurate description of his place in the league—unless you’re talking about the 39-year-old Kevin Garnett, of course. Kobe has been around for a while, sometimes for what feels like forever. He seems aware of that now more than ever. Even his shot selection looked different against the Timberwolves. He relied more on three-point attempts, throwing up 13 missiles from behind the arc. He found the bottom of the net on just three of them, and he shot just 8-of-24 overall, but the point is: he’s different. Judging from the quotes compiled by Spears following Los Angeles’ loss—and we all know how Kobe usually feels about losing—even his perspective on misfortune has changed.
To be honest, it’s all very bizarre. You can’t help wondering if, with the way the Lakers and Kobe are approaching the season, with pronounced loyalty to one another yet with recurrent nods to a future that doesn’t include No. 24, this may very well be his last year. That’s always been a possibility, if not the most likely outcome, but the thought of him walking away and hanging it up for good, even after just one game, suddenly feels real.
And that, in turn, feels weird.
Kobe, in turn, feels old.
