Intro:

Kobe Bryant held a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday (26 November) after the Los Angeles Lakers signed their star guard to a two-year contract extension on Monday (25 November).

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers Guard (On his return from injury)
"Much closer, I had a really, really hard workout today. I'm not done yet but I had a couple of good ones in today. I feel good. I'm feeling much, much stronger and ready to come back soon."

SOUNDBITE (English) Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers Guard (On team sticking with him through the long recovery from surgery)
"Well it makes me want to run through a wall for them. It kind of just adds more fuel to the fire of being able to come out and prove to everybody that they're right and everybody else is wrong."