Los Angeles: Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant said Saturday he won’t play in the Rio Olympics but will make his retirement from basketball official with his last Los Angeles Lakers game.
Bryant, 37, has said this 20th season of his NBA career will be his last.
Although he said in December another Olympic appearance would be a “beautiful” ending to his career, he said Saturday that it wasn’t in the cards.
“I think as beautiful as it would be to play for our country, when I say my last game is going to be my last game, I’m going to retire, then that’s it,” Bryant said prior to the Lakers’ game against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
“It’s not like I’m going to walk off the stage and then (say), ‘But I’m going to come right back for a minute. Hold on one second.’
“You know what I mean? I think it’s pretty sweet to have the final game be in a Laker uniform and support the (Olympic) players from afar.”
Bryant’s final game is scheduled to be April 13, when the Lakers host the Jazz at the Staples Center.
In international play, Bryant won Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012, but he said he’s realised that it’s time for younger players to pick up the torch.
“Since my retirement announcement, I’m able to watch these (younger) guys in a different light,” Bryant said. “I’ve come to terms with the fact that they are the future of this game.
“These are the guys who deserve the spots in Rio. These are the guys who people need to watch and root for. These are the guys to show fans where this game is going in the future.”
In NBA action, Detroit celebrated former Pistons great Ben Wallace on Saturday with a win over the NBA’s current best, handing the Golden State Warriors just their fourth defeat of the season.
The Pistons beat the Warriors 113-95, Golden State’s second defeat in three games and a perfect ending for Detroit fans to a night that saw their club retire four-time defensive player of the year Wallace’s number three jersey in their Palace at Auburn Hills arena at halftime.
Pistons point guard Reggie Jackson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 20 points apiece and Detroit led by double digits throughout the second half.
Jackson added eight assists and Caldwell-Pope had five rebounds and three steals.
Center Andre Drummond produced his league-leading 34th double-double with 14 points and 21 rebounds, unfazed by the trash-talking of Warriors power forward Draymond Green.
“It’s like playing your best friend,” Drummond said of Green’s jawing. “You can talk if you want, it doesn’t mean you mean it. You’re just trying to get the best of him. I intimidate people by the way I play.
“I don’t need to talk.”
Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and the league’s leading scorer, delivered on cue with 38 points, five assists and seven rebounds.
But the rest of the Warriors offered little support.
Shooting guard Klay Thompson scored 24 points, but Green was held to five - 10 below his average.
Golden State did chip away at the Pistons’ 19-point lead in the third quarter.
Curry, who scored 16 points in the period, drained two three-pointers to pull his team within 12. Another Curry three-pointer made it 83-73 later in the frame.
But Detroit opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 scoring run to seize control.
“No matter where we go, teams are going to give us their best shot,” Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said. “It was a big night with the crowd, it was a sellout, retiring Ben Wallace’s jersey.
“They were coming after us tonight and we weren’t ready to fight back,” Walton added. “In this league if you’re not ready to fight back, you’re going to get blown out.”
