Kobe Bryant:
I wanna say, thank you so much for tonight.
But it’s not about my jerseys that are hanging up there for me, it’s about the jerseys that were hanging out before. Without them, I couldn’t be here today, they inspired me to play the game in a high level. Magic, Kareem, Shaq, push me every day. Baylor, Chamberlain, Goodrich, West, Worthy, goes on and on.
Secondly, it’s about this classic organization. Jerry Buss, your father, believe in the skinny kid from Lower Merion high school in Philadelphia. and it’s also about the next generation. it’s about this current Laker rocks that we have in here. it’s about embodying the spirit that exists in old jerseys up there and carrying this organization forward, so that the next 20 years are better than the past 20 years. And that’s what it’s about.
And then it’s also about the fans. Fans, the media. I don’t think you guys understand how present your guys were with me. You guys were there with me at 5:30 in the morning, when I was running in the track, I was middle way through my workout. I didn’t know if I could make it through. But I thought about the expectations you guys have for me, you have for our team. It push me through, it got me through those 800, 400, 100 at 5:30 in the morning, so I thank you.
And it’s about family, it’s about my wife, Vanessa. You guys didn’t notice, but in the last game, my last game that we had here against Utah Jazz, I was really tired. I got home and I was like you know what, I don’t know if I could do this thing. I got one more game left, but I don’t have any legs. She said I want show something, I got a gift for you, for your last game. She proceed to show me a roll of retired jerseys from Baylor, from Magic, from Shaq, from Kareem. All the personal message is a sign for me, including from Michael Jordan, including from the great Bill Russell , including from the great Larry Bird. When I saw that I knew then that I had to turn it up. I had to turn it up. So thank you baby for being an inspiration to me.
And lastly our daughters, Natalia, Gianna and Bianka. I hope tonight you guys know that if you do the work, if you work hard enough dreams come true. You know that we all know that. But hopefully what you get from tonight is understanding that: Those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times when you stay up late and you work hard, those times when you don’t feel like working, you’re too tired and you don’t want to push yourself but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream. That’s the dream. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
And if you guys can understand that, then what you will see happen is that, you won’t accomplish your dreams, your dreams won’t come true, something greater will. If you guys can understand that, then I’m doing my job as a father.
Thank you guys.
I love you.
Mamba out.