The most outlandish script writers in Hollywood wouldn’t have come up with the ending Kobe Bryant had to his NBA & Los Angeles Lakers career. Trashed all year in memes and everyone else for being old and bad, he dropped 60 points before actually dropping the mic as he left the Staples Building for the final time as an active player.
Does it matter that this was the definitive Bryant game of the last few years? He took 50 shots as his teammates wouldn’t stop giving him the ball, and the Utah Jazz decided they’re not going to guard him. Bryant became the oldest player in NBA history to have a 60-point game. It’s the first time in over two years someone has scored 60, and only the third time since 2009.
And with that, it’s over. The Lakers are finally free of the presence of Bryant, but it’s also the first time in 20 years they’re without a marquee star on the team. It’ll be interesting how they look as a team without the Bryant shadow looming over them, but also how they build it from here.
And where does Bryant go? Television? Hard to say. It’s wide open for him from now on. But after achieving so much in basketball. Well, pretty much everything possible, is there anything out there involved with the sport that will satisfy him? I’m not so sure.
