When Kobe Bryant tells Yahoo! Sports' Graham Bensinger that it's "probably accurate" that he'll follow through on Bryant's rookie year suggestion that he'll retire at age 35, you at once think that it's probably not accurate. Kobe would have been 18 or possibly even 17 (the age in which he was drafted) when he said this, working in an NBA with Michael Jordan alternating as both the best player in the game and a step away from retirement at the same time, at age 33. Bryant's contract ends in two years just a month before he turns 36, and though you get the feeling he hadn't considered the possibility of following through on the thoughts of his 18-year-old self, you can never dismiss anything with Kobe. He's that calculating, that smart.
What if he pulled it off, though? What if he decided that 18 seasons were enough, and that he was going to walk away? What if he signed on for one more season, in order to play through Steve Nash's final year, and retire just a few months before turning 37? What if he and his Los Angeles Lakerssecured another ring, along the way?
You know what? He'd be topping MJ.
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