All great things eventually will come to an end.   The Mayan civilization fell completely from the midst of the world.  The sun’s life will end and life will cease to exist on Earth.  Thus, Kobe Bryant’s great career will come to an end at the end of this NBA season, and the league will be without one of the greatest ever: the Black Mamba.

Kobe Bryant announced this week that this NBA season, his 20^th, will be his last.  The five-time NBA champion and two-time Finals MVP will leave a lasting impression on all of basketball.  He has also been a seventeen-time All-Star and has an MVP title to his name.  Kobe will be remembered for his love-hate relationship with former teammate Shaquille O’Neal and for scoring eighty-one points in a single game, second all-time to Wilt Chamberlain who scored one-hundred.  The thirty-seven year old shared his intent to retire to the world through a poem just like his poetic turn-around jumpers have wowed the basketball world for the past two decades.  Along with his ability to score the basketball, Bryant was a nine-time member on the NBA all-defensive team. Along with his NBA titles, Bryant was a member of the Olympic gold-medal teams in the 2008 Beijing games and the 2012 London games.  The last few years of his career have been derailed by injuries and featured little success as the Lakers franchise has witnessed a decline in performance on the court.  Bryant’s legacy, however, will not suffer from the disappointing last few years but will dwell solely on the amazing feats he accomplished during his prime.

During the last few months of Kobe’s career, fans can expect lots of sold-out arenas, multiple standing ovations, and many, many losses for this 2015-16 Lakers team who appears to be tanking for a high draft pick yet again.