After two years of getting sidetracked by injuries, Kobe Bryant is returning to the Los Angeles Lakers line-up to give the team one last boost to the playoffs.

Although they managed to acquire good talents this year in Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams, and Brandon Bass, they might still have a hard time cracking the top 8 spot in the West, which teams only got better this past off-season.

On the bright side, they drafted rookies D'Angelo Russell and Larry Nance Jr, while Julius Randle is returning from injury as well.

But all boils down to the supreme leader, Kobe Bryant. According to Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak via Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, the Black Mamba has expressed his desire to retire after this season.

"He has indicated to me that this is (his last year). There have been no discussions about anything going forward and I don't think there will be," Kupchak said.

With that said, Marc J. Spears caught up with Kobe to confirm the rumors.

"We haven't set anything in stone and I've talked about it before," Bryant said. "But could this be the last [season]? Absolutely. It's tough to decide. It's really tough to make those types of decisions. Players I have spoken to say, 'Kobe you will know.'"

The shooting guard also added that money won't be  a factor should he or not return after the next season.

"I don't want to undervalue the importance of generating any type of whatever. I don't want to make it sound like I'm underappreciative of that or not thankful for that. But at the same, what is really important?" Kobe stressed.

"What is the important thing? I never played for money. When I laced my sneakers up when I was a kid in Italy I wasn't thinking about money. I had no idea how much Magic [Johnson] or [Larry] Bird got paid. I played it because I loved it," he added.

Should the Lakers make the playoffs this year, there might be a strong possibility that the future Hall of Famer return to don his #24 for one more season.