Kobe Bryant could scarcely have closed out his NBA career in more fitting fashion, but the Team USA brass still reached out to see if he wanted to chase one more gold medal this summer.
"When we were going through the pool, we did check to make sure he had retired, and he said to (USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo that) he had," Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski told ESPN's Arash Markazi. "He's still part of our program. When you have a guy who is a two-time gold medal winner and one of the great players of all time, you would always extend the courtesy."
Bryant, though, was content to let his 60-point finale at Staples Center in April stand as the coda to his playing days.
"He said, 'Thank you, but no,'" Krzyzewski explained. "Once you stop playing, it's tough. This is a really high level. It's not worth the grind."
Bryant's national team career saw him win gold in every international competition in which he participated, including the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship.
Several of his former competitors - including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh - have talked with awe about playing with Bryant on that 2008 team, and finally seeing firsthand the kind of work and focus Bryant put into his craft.
"He could not be more supportive," Krzyzewski said. "This whole thing wouldn't have started the way it did without him."
