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Kobe Bryant Harry How/Getty

Kobe Bryant always studied Michael Jordan’s game. That continued even to his retirement letter.

Kobe Bryant announced his retirement at the end of the season via an open letter to basketball, posted at The Players Tribune. It was a poignant way for one of the NBA’s greatest players to tell the world that he’s hanging it up.

You know who also chose an open letter to basketball to signal his retirement? Michael Jordan. On April 20, 2003, Nike took out a full-page ad in several Sunday newspapers across the country with a letter purportedly written by MJ. He wasn’t announcing his retirement — he’d done that much earlier in the year, and in fact, he’d already played his last game — but the letter was his final goodbye.

Jordan’s full letter is no longer available — just news articles with excerpts and a message board posting with the text to the article and a now-dead link to Nike’s website.

But Kobe’s goodbye message is pretty similar to Jordan’s. Here’s the beginning of Kobe’s letter:

Dear Basketball,
From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:
I fell in love with you.

Click here for more.

SOURCE: SB Nation – Rodger Sherman

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Prince Malachi is the founder of The Oracle Network and the Streetwear brand Y.A.H. Apparel

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