Kobe Bryant Told Byron Scott About Retirement During Game vs. Trail Blazers

December 4th, 2015 by Tim Daniels Leave a reply »

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott said Friday that Kobe Bryant informed him of his decision to retire at season's end in the middle of a recent loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Baxter Holmes of ESPN passed along comments from Scott, who admitted the seemingly out-of-nowhere declaration caught him off guard. The former Lakers guard, who played alongside Bryant during the late 1990s, explained it came during a routine conversation after halftime Saturday.

"I said, 'KB, I played you 20 minutes in the first half. I'm going to cut those minutes down. I've got to cut them down,'" Scott said. "He said, 'That's good, coach. That's all right. I'm going to announce my retirement after the game.'"

His reaction was a state of disbelief that stuck with him for the rest of the contest, which the Lakers lost 108-96, with Bryant scoring 21 points.

"I said, 'What?!'" Scott told ESPN. "That was the shock part. I was in that state for the rest of the game. Even when I was watching him play [and] I was watching him running up and down, I'm going, 'Did he just tell me [that]?'"

The Lakers legend wasn't bluffi ...

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