"This season is all I have left to give. My heart can take the pounding, my mind can handle the grind, but my body knows it's time to say goodbye," Kobe Bryant poetically penned for The Players' Tribune, announcing that he'd retire at the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
When No. 24 hangs up his sneakers for the final time, the sport of basketball will have lost a legend. Love him or hate him—with Bryant, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground—you have to respect what he's meant to the NBA.