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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — As if Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash don't already sense it, Derek Jeter brought that end of the tunnel into focus.

"The most touching moment for me was watching him walk off the field and walk through the tunnel and head back to the locker room," Bryant said. "That was the last time that's going to happen. You just try to put yourself in that position and imagine what that would feel like.   

"Even though, ethically, hitting the game-winning single seems to be the most touching thing, for me it was the quiet of walking off the field. That was most moving."

Bryant, 36, has two more years under contract before he determines if he's ready to retire. Nash, 40, has already made the commitment that this will be it.

"With a little bit of luck," Nash said, "maybe I'll get to play a ton this year and have a great close to my career."

Both 1996 draftees are healthy, which might mean nothing more than the bombs are ticking and not yet detonated. Bryant and Nash didn't play a single game together in their second season as Lakers teammates, and how many they play together this season will be determined by how much they ignore the instincts that have made them all-time greats.

They simply cannot push their limits anymore.

Both felt well enough all offseason to undertake consistent, effective workout routines—the sort of things they've done long before it was in vogue. When the Lakers' first practice ended Tuesday, with Bryant and Nash sitting out the final fourth of the session, per Byron Scott's instructions, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti lectured the players on the three keys to recovering from Scott's debut that Bryant called "the most running I've ever done in an NBA practice."

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash hope easing off in training camp will allow the two to play together for the first time since the 2012-13 season.Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

The talking points were ice-water immersion, proper nutrition and good sleep. Bryant and Nash could teach classes on that stuff as well as Vitti, as both have long sought any edge to maximize their abilities and careers.

Now, though, they are learning not to give 100 percent.

"In the past, I've always pushed myself to the limit. That's every day," Bryant said. "Now I've just got to be a little bit more patient and make sure when you step off the court you still have something there."

Bryant got one more drill in Tuesday in the Lakers' inaugural practice after Scott told him it was time to step aside. Bryant then wanted to keep going, but he didn't. Neither did Nash, even though he has been running through two-a-days on his own over the summer.

"I felt great; I could've kept going," Nash said.

For workers used to going overtime and shaking their heads at all their teammates and opponents who don't, it's quite unsettling to clock out early. And on Tuesday, Bryant, in flip-flops, and Nash, sitting next to him, watched their teammates suffer through the practice-ending suicide sprints without them.

It's wrong, frankly.

But given the choice between wrong and nothing, they'll take wrong. The way Bryant justifies it is that there are always sacrifices to make if you want to win. The way Nash sees it is that he has risked his body many times in his career, and there are simply no more rewards for doing so.

Byron Scott put the Lakers through more running drills in their opening practice than Bryant had remembered in L.A.Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press/Associated Press

"I've always kind of overdone it or tried to do too much on a day-to-day basis," Nash said. "For me, it has been a real challenge this summer to stop while I feel good and come back again later in the day if I have to. Not overdo it and leave myself exposed or exploit the good health I do have. That's going to be a different perspective for me. I've got to pick my spots and give myself the best chance to sustain it."

Nash allows that he feels "astonishment" that he has put together this career despite the physical setbacks, including the serious nerve problem now adding to the chronic back condition he's managed, much to the awe of trainers and doctors.

Bryant? He has this to say now about that crippling Achilles rupture that ended Year 17: "The game was becoming a little stale. I think the Achilles injury just ignited a new challenge for me personally."

Phil Jackson used to preach to a young Bryant that he could not challenge everything and resist everyone: Contentment can only stream to you if can allow yourself to go with the flow, too, preached Jackson.

Bryant agrees.

"As you get older, you've got to accept some things you can and can't do," he said. "There's strength in that vulnerability, I think."

That sums up the sort of season that Bryant and Nash are seeking to share with all the fans who've never known the NBA without them.

Vulnerability, obviously. But strength, indeed.

If they can, that's not far off from the even greater dignity of going out on your own terms.

Balance your strength and vulnerability just right, and you can—the way Jeter did—finish with healthy portions of both.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.