In the third game of this season – his 20th year in the NBA – Kobe Bryant shot 3 of 15 and scored 15 points in a loss to the Mavericks.
Three weeks later, the star guard was 1 of 14 from the field and scored four points against the Warriors. After hearing fans and media deride his play for a month, Bryant said on Nov. 29 that he would close the book on his illustrious career and retire after this campaign. Even though the news wasn’t much of a surprise, it still became the talk of the league, immediately changing the narrative and prompting eulogistic homage-paying to the Lakers legend.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd, who played often against him during his 19-year career, exalted Bryant after the announcement, likening the five-time NBA champ to all-time greats Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
"He’s a champion. I think when you look at what he’s done for the game, it’s right there with Magic and Michael," Kidd said on Nov. 30. "He carried the history of that Lakers franchise and helped build on their championships. … He’ll be dearly missed because he’s a competitor. No matter what age, he was always a threat.
"On and off the court, he’s a champion. Everybody talks about him struggling now, but in the end, he’ll probably have the last laugh of having a successful season."
It’s unlikely his 2015-16 season will ultimately be considered a success, especially to a player as famously and fiercely competitive as Bryant is. He’s having the worst shooting year of his career (32.4 percent), and, despite playing 30.9 minutes per game, his points (16.2), rebounds (4.2) and assists (3.3) are all among his lowest averages in two decades. The Lakers, at 3-21, are the second-worst team in the league.
As has been reiterated since he revealed his retirement plans, Bryant is one of the best players to have ever appeared on a basketball court and his NBA legacy is nearly unsurpassed.
But it’s impossible to ignore that he’s having one of the worst seasons by a star player in league history. With a player efficiency rating of 11.7, he’s well below the league-average mark of 15.0. For comparison, on the Bucks, Bryant’s PER would be right in between guards O.J. Mayo (10.8) and Michael Carter-Williams (12.7). That’s right, Bryant is a less-efficient player than even MCW in 2015-16.
But, of course, that’s to be expected after 20 years, 1,500 total games and more than 55,000 minutes played. Bryant is certainly not the first player to suffer a major drop-off in production in his final season.
With Milwaukee in Los Angeles on Tuesday night to take on the Lakers, I decided to look back at 10 former Bucks players to see how each of their last years in the NBA compares to Bryant’s. To try and achieve as much similarity as possible – comparing players is never black and white, especially across eras, positions, roles and styles – I am only looking at ex-Bucks who were shooting guards or small forwards, played at least nine seasons in the league and had a career PER of more than 15.0.
The results show that while Bryant’s production (scoring, rebounding, assisting) drop-off isn’t as bad as most, he’s been much less efficient as a shooter and overall player compared to the average decline of these 10 above-average Bucks players from years past.
Below, I found the difference (in all cases, it was negative) between each player’s career averages and their averages in their final NBA season. Keep in mind, each figure is a decline for the given percentage, not numerical amount, and smaller numbers represent less of a performance drop-off. Statistics were from BasketballReference.com.
| Player | Minutes (% –) | Points (% –) | Rebounds (% –) | Assists (% –) | FG shooting (% –) | PER (% –) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenn Robinson | 52.7 | 51.7 | 55.7 | 66.7 | 3.7 | 1.7 |
| Brian Winters | 22.1 | 34.6 | 26.9 | 34.1 | 8.6 | 20.4 |
| Terry Cummings | 36.9 | 48.8 | 32.9 | 47.4 | 11.4 | 23.5 |
| Michael Redd | 52.8 | 56.8 | 60.5 | 71.4 | 10.5 | 28.7 |
| Junior Bridgeman | 50.8 | 62.5 | 57.1 | 58.3 | 2.8 | 28.8 |
| Ray Allen | 25.6 | 49.2 | 31.7 | 41.1 | 2.2 | 31.1 |
| Sidney Moncrief | 49.7 | 69.9 | 72.3 | 61.1 | 2.8 | 40.1 |
| Paul Pressey | 45.2 | 58.5 | 56.4 | 66.7 | 9.5 | 45.8 |
| Marques Johnson | 71.1 | 80.1 | 75.7 | 75.0 | 27.6 | 57.7 |
| Bob Dandridge | 55.1 | 74.6 | 77.9 | 64.7 | 21.1 | 68.9 |
| Average | 46.2 | 58.7 | 54.7 | 58.7 | 10.0 | 34.7 |
| Kobe Bryant | 15.3 | 35.7 | 20.8 | 31.2 | 27.8 | 49.8 |
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
