Magic Johnson has claimed that Kobe Bryant is the closest the NBA has seen to Michael Jordan following the Los Angeles Lakers star's announcement that he will retire at the end of the season.

The 37-year-old confirmed that he will end his illustrious career at the end of his 20th campaign due to numerous injury problems.

Johnson believes that Bryant will go down as the second-best shooting guard in the history of the game behind the Chicago Bulls legend.

"He's the closest thing we've seen to Michael Jordan," Johnson told Yahoo Sports. "He'll probably go down as the second-greatest scoring guard. You couldn't stop him.

"His will to win was incredible and he stayed in the gym like no other. This guy was 24/7 basketball. I'm happy for him because he said he feels this is his time to go out. He's going out the way he wants to go out."

Bryant won the NBA Championship five times in his career.