The late Kobe Bryant announced his retirement on November 29, 2015. For Byron Scott, though, the moment actually came a day earlier. During a game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Bryant told the then-Los Angeles Lakers' head coach he planned to retire after the season.

The activists said Target has not met the boycott’s demands and pushed back against any narrative that the protest had concluded. In the Minnesota Tribune, Levy Armstrong criticized Bryant’s earlier comments, saying he appeared to be taking credit for “a movement built on the blood, sweat, and tears of the people of the state of Minnesota.”