Kobe Bryant has spent his entire career trying to emulate Michael Jordan, so it makes sense that he told MJ about his intentions to retire at the end of this season before he told everyone else.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, Bryant publicly announced his decision to retire on Sunday via a poem in The Players' Tribune, but the greatest Laker of all time actually told Jordan this past summer, according to ESPN.
"[Jordan] is actually one of the first people that I told over the summer," he said during a postgame press conference on Sunday. "We've been in frequent contact."
Bryant said Jordan gave him some seemingly simple advice for his final season, too: "Just enjoy it. No matter what, just enjoy it ... Don't let anybody take that away from you, no matter what happens, good or bad. Enjoy it, man."
Of course, it's one thing to tell Kobe Bryant to enjoy an entire season on a terrible team, and another for Kobe Bryant to actually enjoy an entire season on a terrible team. The Lakers, it goes without saying, lost on Sunday, 107-103. They are now 2-14.
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