Kobe on report he's retiring after next season: 'Yeah no, that's not true'

Kobe Bryant cleared things up a little Sunday in regards to a report that said he would retire after next season.

"Yeah no, that's not true," Bryant told Grantland's Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose in response to an article last week in The Hollywood Reporter.

In the THR piece, which was mostly an interview with the Los Angeles Lakers legend about his upcoming Showtime documentary "Kobe Bryant's Muse," author Marisa Guthrie wrote Bryant would retire after next season, without directly quoting him on the topic.

Bryant also told Simmons and Rose he's not into the idea of a Derek Jeter-style season farewell tour:

It wouldn't be true to who I've been my entire career to do a farewell tour. First of all, I'd feel weird.

As Lakers coach Byron Scott said in the wake of the initial story, now that we've heard it from the horse's mouth, we can put this to bed for a few weeks.

To be sure: virtually nobody would be surprised if Bryant retired following next season. He'll be 37 in August and has only 2015-16 - plus $25 million - left on his contract. However, his stubbornness is also the stuff of legend and it's hard to believe Bryant would allow himself to close his career the way the last three seasons have ended.

This summer, Kobe the free agent recruiter may be the one setting the stage for exactly when Kobe the player calls it quits.