Kobe Bryant Retiring Rumors, News: Shaquille O'Neal Advises Former Feuding Lakers Teammate

Rumors regarding Lakers point guard Kobe Bryant's retirement from the NBA have been roaming around for a while now. But former teammate, Shaquille O'Neal, is advising the player he had a previous feud with to slow down on retiring.

Bryant's two-year, $48 million contract extension is on the verge of expiring, so it only makes sense that the Lakers point guard is set to retire considering his body has been failing his game in recent seasons. But Kobe just turned 37, and Shaq thinks it's too soon for Kobe to retire.

As reported by SB Nation, in a recent interview with the New Orleans Time-Picayune, Shaq said that he wishes he would've been able to play longer than he did, which is why he thinks Kobe should think his decision through thoroughly before ending his career.

"If you still got something, you should go," Shaq said. "Because once it's done, you can't get it back. If I hadn't got hurt, I would have went on and played my last season to try and break Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record. But it's different for guards because they got control-'I'm going to shoot this time.' For big guys, it is kind of hard."

Now, Bryant has repeatedly stated that he won't be making a retirement decision until after the 2015-2016 NBA season with the Lakers:

"We haven't set anything in stone and I've talked about it before," Bryant said to Yahoo Sports. "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.' I'm making this very simple," he continued. "Either I like playing the game and going through this process or I don't. I try to strip it down to the simplest form. Either I like playing some more or I don't. But I think that decision needs to be made after the season. It's hard to make a decision like that before the season."

Although, according to SB Nation, the Lakers' general manager, Mitch Kupchak, said that he expects the 2015-26 season to be Bryant's final season in the NBA. It's still not 100 percent guaranteed whether or not Kobe will retire after all.