4. Kobe Bryant Announces Impending Retirement
At 37-Years-Old, Kobe Bryant had been on the final stretch of his career for the past few NBA seasons, suffering back to back season ending injuries years prior. Upon his return, it was clear that Bryant was not the same, no longer having the same skill set as his body clearly had given out on him. Arguably one of the Top 10 greatest NBA players of all-time and the the league’s premier star after Michael Jordan left the NBA, it appeared as though Bryant was the last person to realize that his days of playing at a high level are over.
On November 29th, Bryant penned a poem to the sport of basketball, professing his love for the game, but revealed that the 2015-2016 season would be his last. The news immediately went viral, and was followed by a very emotional press conference as Bryant shared that he had actually made up his mind prior to the start of the season. Once again, Kobe was one of the most talked about sportsmen in the world, as great stars in basketball, football, soccer, baseball and all other walks of life publicly shared their appreciation for the legend. Kobe Bryant’s retirement certainly marks the end of an era which saw him dominate his contemporaries during the new millennium.
