Bryant’s 60-point mic drop in his last …

Bryant’s 60-point mic drop in his last game ranks among his most iconic moments, and it provided the franchise and its fanbase a badly needed excuse to celebrate. As far as the rest of that season goes, well, that would be less enjoyable to watch again. “It was a tough year,” said Kupchak, the Lakers’ general manager from 1994 to 2017. “It’s not the script you want to write. The script is you win a championship and you retire. That’s the script. Not playing with a bunch of young kids, winning 17 games, being hurt the whole time, not being able to practice. That’s not the script.”