Kobe Bryant’s Miserable, Exhilarating Future

Over at VICE Sports, I took a look at the final act of Kobe’s career. With a two-year extension in place, Kobe will be counted on to help usher the Lakers into a future without him. If he is still entertaining thoughts of a sixth championship, a reality check may be coming. 

So, what are the questions that need to be answered? And how will Kobe deal with the answers, especially if they’re not to his liking? I explored Kobe’s future in a piece you can read here. An excerpt is below. Enjoy. 

Perhaps Kobe will recognize his declining play and make a similar adjustment, to elevate his teammates, to build up the future of the team, a future that will likely not involve him by the time the Lakers are ready to be successful again. Or, without the end goal of a championship, he may eschew a more open-minded approach, and turn his attention towards the individual milestones that matter to him, be it another scoring title or climbing the charts for most points scored in league history.

The Lakers, as a team, aren’t going to be very fascinating this season. But how Kobe reconciles his basketball mortality and approaches his final act is exciting and a little frightening to think about.