Last November, in a "Players' Tribune" submission, Kobe Bryant announced that he plans to retire after this year’s NBA season. This pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to shift their priorities to accommodate this narcissistic veteran.

“This is a year that's dedicated to Kobe and his farewell,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said at a season ticket holder event in January, which is when the embarrassment that is the “Kobe Bryant Farewell Tour” began.

Kobe fans will think that Kobe fully deserves this farewell tour. He’s been a superstar in the NBA for 20 years and he’s one of the top 10 NBA players of all time. “What could it hurt to let him use this season to say goodbye?” they might ask. Well, a lot, actually.

First, you must understand the season Kobe is having. He’s averaging 16 points per game, down significantly from his 25-points-per-game career average. His career field goal percentage is 45 percent, while this year, Bryant is only shooting 35 percent. He isn’t making the big shots fans have seen him make for two decades, but he’s shooting as much as ever. He has little impact on whether his team wins or loses, night in and night out.

The 14-54 Lakers are clearly in a period of rebuilding. Their 20.6 winning percentage is the second lowest in the NBA. Their roster is full of young talent like D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson. What these players need more than anything is court time. They need to be on the floor learning their roles on the team and the speed of an NBA game. They need to turn the ball over and miss big shots so they can learn from it and improve. I’m not saying the Lakers should use players that aren’t NBA-ready and basically throw away games. What I am saying, though, is that a rebuilding team can’t move forward and get back into title contention when their future is sitting on the bench. By only allowing these young players to play 20-25 minutes per game, you’re not letting them mature as basketball players. Kupchak is wasting a year of these young players’ careers to please one 37-year-old veteran.

“Under normal circumstances, you would probably concentrate on just developing all your young players. But we can't do that right now. [Bryant] is going to want to play every game and he's going to want to play a lot of minutes in every game, because that's just the way he is,” continued Kupchak.

Really?! "We can't do that right now...that's just the way he is"--how infuriating! You've got to be kidding me. Who's running the team, here?! I understand Kobe has been one of the biggest superstars in the NBA for the past 20 years. He’s an 18-time All Star, he’s won five NBA championships, and was MVP in 2008. I get it. But one player, no matter what accolades he’s accumulated, cannot decide that he is going to take a full season away from his team so he can go from arena to arena, pose for pictures, collect gifts, and play mediocre basketball. But that’s exactly what Bryant is doing, because for Kobe, it’s always been about Kobe.

“We can’t move on as a team until Kobe leaves,” Kupchak added. He’s right. Kobe is completely halting the progress of the Lakers as a franchise so that he, one player, one part of a team, can be the center of attention for a little longer. No player should ever be bigger than the team. But for Kobe, he is the team.

The NBA probably has no issue with what Kobe is doing because his farewell tour has created a media circus that’s increased revenue for the Lakers and the NBA. Bryant is third in jersey sales this season (behind Steph Curry and LeBron James), and ticket prices for Kobe’s last games in arenas around the league have skyrocketed. In a society obsessed with money, the NBA has struck gold with Kobe’s final season. While the league might be raking in the dough thanks to Kobe, the integrity of the game is getting hurt, thanks to Kobe.

This season, the Lakers are last in field goal percentage, second-to-last in offensive rating and assists, and in the bottom six in points and 3-point field goal percentage. The strategy on offense is clearly this: give the ball to Kobe and let him shoot. The shots aren’t falling, but the game plan stays the same every night. Kobe keeps shooting because “that’s just the way he is.” It’s embarrassing to the game. Sports are about winning and putting the best possible team on the court every game in hopes that your team will be victorious--unless Kobe decides to stick around for one more mediocre season.

Now, some sports fans might point to Derek Jeter and say, “Hey, he did the same thing Kobe’s doing and no one gets mad at him!” That’s true, but Jeter has always been a team-first kind of player. He was captain of the New York Yankees for 12 seasons and he was respected by all of his competitors. Yes, his performance during his final season was down a bit, but he didn’t hurt the integrity of the game. His final season was still a competitive one and he was a professional throughout his whole career. Jeter's decision to play one more season didn't come at the cost of an up-and-coming young player, like Kobe's season does. The Yankees didn't have a viable successor to Jeter on their roster. They tried a combination of Stephen Drew, Yangervis Solarte, Dean Anna, and Brendan Ryan at shortstop, and they combined to hit .106 over 46 starts. Jeter's final season was seen as a "thank you" to the fans, not as a “look at me” moment like Kobe’s. For Jeter, it was never all about Jeter.

I'm not against Kobe sticking around the team for another year to get recognition for his stellar career. I don't necessarily agree with it, but if he wasn't hurting the team, I could at least understand it. He could take pictures and receive his gifts before the game, then watch the game from the bench. If this were the case, no one would lose any playing time, and Kobe would get to stay in the spotlight. But, as Kupchak said, Kobe wants to play a lot of minutes, so Kobe will play a lot of minutes. That's one example of Kobe's selfishness, here's another:

“Being a 'great friend’ is something I will never be. I can be a good friend, but not a great friend. A great friend will call you every day and remember your birthday. I'll get so wrapped up in my [stuff], I'll never remember that stuff,” Kobe admitted in an interview with Deadspin. Kobe might as well have just come out and said "I'm more important than everyone else." In case you needed another reason to not like Kobe Bryant, he's the kind of guy that makes up his own nickname.

All of these reasons help to paint a portrait of one of American sports’ most self-centered athletes. He's an athlete who would force his team to waste a season so he could stay in the spotlight a little while longer; an athlete who would harm the integrity of the game so he could keep taking shots; an athlete who couldn't care less about being on a losing team because he’s getting to promote his brand a little bit more. Why does he do all of this? It’s simple: because for Kobe, it’s always all about Kobe.