Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, arguably the best player of his generation, announced on Sunday he will retire after the 2015-16 National Basketball Association (NBA) season.

Bryant, who is struggling through the worst season of his illustrious 20-year basketball career with the Los Angeles Lakers, said in a piece posted on the Players’ Tribune website that “I’m ready to let go.”

The decision was not totally unexpected as the 37-year-old guard has been plagued by a spate of injuries these past few months and had recently said he was considering retirement.

“I can’t love you obsessively for much longer. This season is all I have left to give,” wrote Bryant.

“My heart can take the pounding, my mind can handle the grind, but my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.”

Bryant, a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer who is third on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, has a career-worst 31.5 shooting percentage through his first 12 games of the season on a Lakers team that has the second worst record in the league.

Named Kobe by his parents after they spotted the popular Japanese cut of beef on a restaurant menu before his birth, Bryant is now a five-times NBA champion having won championship titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010.

He was drafted out of high school with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by Charlotte Hornets but was traded shortly after to the Lakers for Serbian Vlade Divac.

He has appeared in 17 All-Star games, was named the Most Valuable Player for the 2007-08 regular season and landed MVP honours in the 2009 and 2010 finals when he led the Lakers to consecutive championships.

Bryant has also won gold medals with the US basketball team at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.