Kobe on playing past 2016: 'Maybe ... right now I'd say no'

Kobe Bryant's contract expires after the 2015-16 season. That much everyone knows.

At times, it has sounded as if Bryant intends to call it a career after that point. He'll be 38, and he'll have played 20 NBA seasons, an exceptionally long career. But his answers regarding retirement have never been firm, only suggestive of his current thinking.

He was asked again Wednesday after Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott expressed a desire to coax Bryant into playing beyond his current contract.

"If I want to play, I'll play," Bryant said. "Maybe. Maybe not. Right now, I'd say no."

Scott suggested that he thinks Bryant would stay if the Lakers could put him in a competitive environment for the 2016-17 season. With five NBA championship rings, one shy of big brother Michael Jordan, the chance to win a sixth may entice him, should his body hold up.

"You guys have watched him play," Scott said. "He has a lot left in the tank. If we put something together that excites him, we'll have a real good chance of him saying he'll play another year and give it another shot."

That's not unrealistic, though Scott should perhaps be concerned about whether he'll still be the coach when 2016-17 rolls around. 

On paper, building a contender in the summer of 2016 is possible - the Lakers will only have Nick Young, Julius Randle and their 2015 first-round draft pick under contract, and the salary cap is set to explode. That's a lot of flexibility, especially if Bryant is willing to take a discount on the $25 million he'll make next year (don't count on that).

This is all a long time away, though, and Bryant probably won't answer with certainty one way or the other until at least next summer. There may not be a Derek Jeter-esque goodbye tour - RE24ECT isn't a good look - but Bryant may want to announce his intentions ahead of the season to avoid questions like these all year.