After playing in the NBA for 20 years and earning himself a title as one of the most legendary basketball players, Kobe Bryant explains why he decided that now is the right time to retire.
Offering an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America," the 37-year-old Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard tells Robin Roberts that it was his 2013 injury that made him start thinking about retirement:
"It was something that kind of evolved over the last three years, you know, with the Achilles injury, that really frightened me. [...] Because you know, it was like, 'My career could be over now.' It scared me. 'What am I going to do next?' sort of thing. So I took that time to start trying to figure that out."
Apparently, there were a lot of reasons behind his decision. According to Entertainment Tonight, Kobe Bryant says his focus has also been someplace else:
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And normally what happens with me is my mind would always drift to the game. Always. [...] And then I found myself sitting there. My mind wouldn't drift towards the game all the time anymore."
Kobe continued, "And that's when I started realizing, 'You know what? It's getting close. It's getting close.' Because now I'm not obsessively thinking about the game anymore. It's not wired into my subconscious the way it used to be."
It was just on Sunday when Kobe Bryant announced that he would be retiring his basketball jersey after this season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The announcement - a poem called "Dear Basketball" -- broke the hearts of many fans.
Check out a clip from the interview with Robin Roberts