Kobe Bryant informed Byron Scott of his plans to retire during the middle of a game last Saturday.

"I said, 'KB, I played you 20 minutes in the first half. I'm going to cut those minutes down. I've got to cut them down,'" Scott said after his team's morning shootaround ahead of their game against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. "He said, 'That's good, coach. That's all right. I'm going to announce my retirement after the game.'"

Scott said he was stunned.

"I said, 'What?!'" Scott recalled. "That was the shock part. I was in that state for the rest of the game. Even when I was watching him play [and] I was watching him running up and down, I'm going, 'Did he just tell me [that]?'"

Scott said Bryant's casual demeanor was perhaps most shocking.

"It was so casual. It was kind of cool," Scott said. "[As a] matter [of] fact, he said, 'You're the first to know.' He said, 'Coach, you're the first to know that I'm going to announce my retirement.'

"He was at peace when he told me," Scott added. "That's the only thing I could say. During that game, when I was watching him and putting him [in the game] and taking him out, that's the most relaxed and at peace that I've ever seen him."