On Wednesday, April 13, Kobe Bryant’s 20-year NBA career will end against the Utah Jazz on the Los Angeles Lakers’ home court.
That’s bound to incite some sort of emotion. He is bound to feel something different, do something different.
Or maybe not, per Mark Median of the Los Angeles Daily News:
Kobe on last game: "I'm approaching it like any other game."
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 30, 2016
Here I was, secretly hoping that Kobe would try to go for 50 points. I mean, why not? The Lakers aren’t good, and he has the chance to play spoiler against a Jazz squad that could, in all reality, still be fighting for playoff positioning.
Alas, knowing Kobe Bryant, this isn’t exactly surprising. He is more introspective than ever before. Kinder. Laid back. Candid in an affable way.
Old.
But he still isn’t one to reflect on his own performance in the moment. It’s different when it comes to past accolades, and he would likely feel differently if that Lakers game against the Jazz symbolized anything other than the end of his career.
Indeed, emotions will be running high, even for Kobe himself, as he plays in front of the Lakers’ fans, his fans, for one last time. But in many ways, given all that’s happened to his body, and how far the Lakers have fallen during that time, Kobe Bryant’s career ended years ago, when his health was still whole, the Lakers still relevant and the games still meaningful.
