Kobe Bryant has been accidentally letting everyone close to him know he was retiring, but the stories of how the Black Mamba let the news slip is even better.
We heard about Wade finding out in the coldtub, but how about Byron Scott learning at the start of the third quarter against the Blazers.
“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 after his team’s morning shootaround ahead of their game against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. “He said, ‘That’s good, coach. That’s all right. I’m going to announce my retirement after the game.'”
Bryant admitted the revelation came by accident.
“It just slipped out. He was worried about the minutes. I said, it doesn’t matter. I’m not playing next year anyway. He was like [gives an odd stare]. I looked at him at his face, and I realized I said it. He was just shocked. I said, you know what? I’m just leaving him like that. I’m not even going to soften him up. I’m just going to mess with him a little bit.”
I love how he just left Scott to contemplate the news.