Los Angeles Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak has intimated in a radio interview that the 2015-2016 will be Kobe Bryant's final season with the team.

"He has indicated to me that this is it," Kupchak told SiriusXM NBA Radio on Thursday, according to ESPN's Baxter Holmes.

Like Us on Facebook

The Black Mamba is going in the second half of his two-year extension signed in 2013 worth $48.5 million. He is set to earn a league-high $25 million in the final year of his contract with the Lakers next season, which will be his 20th with the team, as well as in the league, as he turns 37 years old.

"I think first and foremost, he's on the last year of a deal," Kupchak said. "There have been no discussions about anything going forward. I don't think there will be."

However, a tweet from Bryant himself reiterated that he is not closing any doors for the possibility of playing beyond 2016, according to USA Today.

Bryant has only played 41 games since the 2013-2014 season when he came back from a devastating Achilles' injury suffered in a regular season game against the Golden State Warriors in 2012. Six games after returning from the Achilles' tear, he fractured his left kneecap in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

In the recent regular season, Bryant managed to play 35 games, surpassing Michael Jordan as the NBA's third all-time leading scorer, before going down again with a torn right shoulder rotator cuff in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans last January.

He is attempting a third injury comeback in as many seasons, which further boosts speculations that next season would probably be his last.

The Lakers will not be a title contender even if they landed the 2nd draft pick and are planning to make major moves in the coming offseason, as reported by CBS Sport's Zach Halper. The article added that "if the Lakers aren't close to becoming a title contender in the next year or two, it doesn't make much sense for Kobe to keep killing his body."

Retirement indeed makes much more sense.

TagsNBA 2015, NBA news, NBA rumors, Los Angeles Lakers