As speculation about Dwight Howard's future with the Los Angeles Lakers continues on, new rumors suggest that one of the franchise's biggest stars may be calling it quits earlier than expected.

It's been highly speculated that after an Achilles' tendon tear ended his season, that the Lakers superstar wouldn't be able to perform as in previous years despite his age.

Bryant has teased fans over the last few weeks on Twitter that he had a big announcement to be made, only adding fuel to the retirement fire, but on Monday he downplayed all rumors about a pending retirement.

Bryant recently went from being required to wear a cast to being able to walk on his own power with the assistant of a walking boot.

Although he isn't routinely walking on his left foot as of yet, his recovery time, however, is moving somewhat ahead of schedule as the original estimated time that he'd stay immobilized was expected to be for a month.

When he changed from a cast to a walking boot two weeks ago, Bryant had indicated that he'd wear the device for a "few months."

Either way this is serves as good news for Bryant and the Lakers as they prepare for the offseason.

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