Kobe Bryant not planning to play in BIG3 league next year

FILE - In this Dec. 30, 2014, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant stands on the court during a review in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets in Denver. Phil Jackson doubts this is Kobe Bryant's final season _ though thinks it may be Bryant's last in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

NEW YORK (AP) — Kobe Bryant won’t be coming out of retirement to play in the BIG3 next year.

A spokesperson for the longtime Los Angeles Lakers star said Tuesday that Bryant isn’t playing next season in the 3-on-3 league of former NBA players.

Speculation that Bryant would play had heated up earlier in the day when league co-founder and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz said during the league’s weekly conference call that he “did hear from a credible source yesterday that Kobe says he’s playing next year.”

But Molly Carter, chief marketing officer of Kobe Inc., says the NBA’s No. 3 career scorer has no plans to do so.

The BIG3 wraps up its second season with the championship game on Friday in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.