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          Los Angeles Lakers

          Jim Buss not shutting door on Kobe Bryant's return

          Jim Buss says it will be Kobe Bryant's decision on whether he continues his career when his contract runs out after the 2015-16 season. Getty Images
          • Baxter Holmes, ESPN Senior WriterAug 28, 2015, 03:24 AM ET
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              Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) is a senior writer for ESPN Digital and Print, focusing on the NBA. He has covered the Lakers, the Celtics and previously worked for The Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times.
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          Given Kobe Bryant's age and injury-riddled past, there is great intrigue about the star guard's health entering this upcoming season, but there is just as much intrigue -- if not more -- about whether it will be Bryant's final season with the Los Angeles Lakers -- or in the NBA.

          Though the 37-year-old star guard is entering the final year of his contract, during which he'll be paid a league-high $25 million, Bryant has not said he'll retire at the end of the 2015-16 season, which will be his 20th season with the Lakers.

          Instead, Bryant has repeatedly said he'll wait until the end of the season to make any decisions about his future, but his stance hasn't slowed speculation.

          "We're going to approach it like it is [his final season], but that doesn't mean it is," Jim Buss, the Lakers' part-owner and executive vice president of basketball operations, told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday.

          "I'm not going to sit there and say, 'This is it, Kobe, you're done,' because it's not my decision, it's his decision."

          Lakers president Jeanie Buss made similar comments during a July radio appearance with KPCC, saying, "What I've made clear is only Kobe Bryant can decide when Kobe Bryant is done playing basketball. What I do want to stress is that we are celebrating his 20th year with the Lakers, which I don't think you're going to see very often [among players]."

          Jeanie Buss added then, "The idea that you stay with one team your entire career is going to change a lot as free agency continues to evolve through collective bargaining. I think this is an opportunity that we have to pay tribute to somebody that has been great for the Lakers, been great for Los Angeles. It's just a nice opportunity to celebrate Kobe Bryant."

          Bryant's past three seasons have all been cut short by injury.

          Last season, during which the Lakers finished a franchise-worst 21-61, Bryant played only 35 games before suffering a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. The season before, Bryant played just six games because of a fractured kneecap.

          The Lakers have been widely criticized for giving Bryant a two-year, $48.5-million extension in 2013 just months after he tore his Achilles’ tendon -- and that criticism has only grown with Bryant playing just 41 games since then.

          "The man has done so much for the Lakers and the fans of the Laker nation, he deserves the money," Jim Buss told The Times on Thursday. "I don't understand anybody trying to break down what I did for him. Let's break down what he did for us, then say, what is he worth? To me, he's worth that."

          When asked if this was Bryant’s final year with the Lakers, Jim Buss told The Times, "My arms are like this," and reportedly held his arms wide open, suggesting that the Lakers would welcome Bryant back.