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Phil Jackson: Kobe Bryant may play next year, not with Lakers

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Phil Jackson doubts this is Kobe Bryant’s final season — though thinks it may be Bryant’s last in Los Angeles.

With Bryant going into the last season of his contract and coming off a couple of injury-shortened seasons, his future will be one of the biggest questions around the NBA this season.

Jackson, who coached Bryant to five NBA championships with the Lakers, says: “I don’t think it’s his last year. Sounds like it may be his last year as a Laker.”

Jackson, now the Knicks’ president of basketball operations, says he sent Bryant a message last month for his 37th birthday.