Hey Kobe, it was a great run — really it was. But it's just starting to get sad. As much as I hate to say it ... well, I think my business partner Marsellus Wallace said it best 20 years ago in Pulp Fiction:
MARSELLUS:
I think you’re gonna find — when all this shit is over and done — I think you’re gonna find yourself one smilin’ motherfucker. Thing is Kobe, right now you got ability.
But painful as it may be, ability don’t last. And your days are just about over. Now that’s a hard motherfuckin’ fact of life, but it’s a fact of life your ass is gonna have to get realistic about.
See, the NBA is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like vino. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. if you mean it gets better with age, it don't.
Besides, Kobe, how many seasons you think you've got in you anyway, huh? Two?
The Lakers don't have an Old Timers' Day. You came close to Jordan, but you never made it. And if you were gonna make it, you would have made it before now.
Now the night of the All-Star Game, you may feel a slight sting, that’s pride fuckin’ with you. Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps. Fight through that shit. 'Cause a year from now, when you're kickin' it in the Caribbean you’re gonna say, “Marsellus Wallace was right.”
KOBE:
I got no problem with that.
MARSELLUS:
In 2015, your ass goes down. Say it!
KOBE:
In 2015, my ass goes down.