The Los Angeles Lakers have endured two of the worst campaigns in back-to-back years and Kobe Bryant sustained season-ending injuries in both of them, but he isn't ready to call it a career and senses a "rebirth" coming.
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After being limited to just six games last season, in which the Lakers finished a franchise-worst 27-55, Bryant suffered a season-ending torn rotator cuff this year.
Bryant plans to return for his 20th NBA season in 2015-16, the final year he is under contract.
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Despite his injury woes, the five-time NBA champion adamantly stated he will not retire and he cited the San Antonio Spurs winning a fifth NBA title last year as motivation.
"I can't say it is the end," Bryant told NBA TV in an interview that aired Monday night, according to ESPN. "I thought the Spurs were done 20 years ago. Those guys are still winning."
Bryant, 36, appeared on the NBA TV special, entitled Kobe: The Interview, and said that his era isn't over yet.
"So, to answer the question, I can't say this is the end of my era because I thought their [era] was done and they're still there," Bryant said. "So I'm hoping I can have the same rebirth."
Bryant also touched on what it is that drives him to want to come back and turn the Lakers recent woes around.
"The process of it. I want to see if I can. I don't know if I can. I want to find out. I want to see," he said. "What I'm going to do is do what I always do: I'm going to break everything down to its smallest form, smallest detail, and go after it day by day. Just one day at a time."
Bryant, a 17-time All-Star, is the highest paid player in the NBA this season with a contract that pays him $23.5 million and the deal pays him $25 million next season.
Los Angeles is on pace to break last season's record of futility as the team is 13-40 and in 14th place in the Western Conference.
If a rebirth is coming, the Lakers will have to have a massive turnaround next season.
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