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Kobe set to retire: 'It's time to say goodbye'

After playing 15 games this season, Kobe Bryant has come to the realization that this is his last season in the NBA. On Sunday, he formally announced his retirement with a poem on The Players' Tribune:

Dear Basketball

From the moment
I started rolling my dad's tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.