Kobe Bryant may be retiring from the NBA at the end of this season, but he might have one more Olympic run in him with Team USA according to Jerry Colangelo.
Bryant remains in contention for one of the precious roster spots on Team USA’s 2016 Olympic squad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN’s Marc Stein.
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo tells https://t.co/EXInXOMads that Kobe Bryant remains in contention for Team USA spot for Rio 2016
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 30, 2015
Bryant, who won Olympic gold in both 2008 (Beijing) and 2012 (London) — initially stated that he wanted the spot regardless of the intense competition.
Bryant has since calmed those words — simply saying that he would obviously love to be a part of the team, but has to earn the spot instead of simply having it handed to him.
“It would mean the world to me to be around those guys,” Bryant said earlier in the month, according to The Associated Press. ”I think to be able to have a chance to continue the relationship that I already have with most of those guys, talking and just kind of being around each other and understanding that this is it, it’s just us being together, that would be fun.”
Bryant is averaging 15.7 points on 31.5 percent shooting from the field this season.
