The 37-year-old LA Lakers star, who has won the National Basketball Association (NBA) title on five occasions, Sunday announced his retirement at the end of the season with a poem.
Bryant made the long declaration in a post on The Players' Tribune on Sunday in the form of a poem titled "Dear Basketball."
"My heart can take the pounding. My mind can handle the grind. But my body knows it's time to say goodbye," he wrote.
"And that's OK. I'm ready to let you go. I want you to know now. So we both can savour every moment we have left together. The good and the bad. We have given each other all that we have," he added in his goodbye poem.
Lakers president Jeanie Buss made an announcement saying, "We're all sad. This era of Lakers basketball has been one of the most fun, exciting, prosperous eras we could imagine… We're in full support of him. But it's still very sad."
Indeed, basketball lovers, including some famous names such as Justin Timberlake, Rob Lowe, and Omri Casspi expressed their sadness and support for Bryant.
“One of the TRUE KINGS of the game. You are one the greatest to ever do it, my friend," Timberlake tweeted.
Bryant was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2008, selected for the NBA All-Star team on 17 occasions and won Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012.
He scored 32,683 points during a 20-year career with the LA Lakers to rank third on the NBA's all-time list. This makes more than 25 points per game in his 1,293 NBA matches.
He is also the highest paid player in the NBA, at $US 25 million, with his contract set to expire at the season's end.
