With all the NBA trade rumors finally put to rest in the City of Angels after Thursday’s deadline came and went, the Los Angeles Lakers can now get back to business on the basketball court as they are set to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at the Staples Center. Now that the team has acquired the point guard they were looking for in Ramon Sessions, the focus will be on contending for another NBA title from here on out, but there might be some resentment looming after the trade of Derek Fisher.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, Lakers head coach Mike Brown has yet to talk to the team or Kobe Bryant about the recent trade of Derek Fisher:
Lakers coach Mike Brown said he did not address the team about the trades, nor did he confer with Kobe Bryant to hear his thoughts about losing his longtime backcourt mate in Fisher.
“I didn’t speak to him at all about it,” Brown said.
Bryant did not speak to reporters after shootaround and was already off the practice court by the time the media was allowed in.
There is no question that one of the most disappointed players on the current squad about Derek Fisher’s departure to the Houston Rockets was Kobe Bryant. With the two veterans playing alongside each other for the better part of their NBA careers ever since being drafted by the Lakers back in 1996 and winning five NBA titles during their time together in Los Angeles, Kobe and Fisher have been as close as any two teammates have been on the Lakers over the past two decades.
Unfortunately, that is all over now and both Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers will have to move on. The goal for Kobe from here on out is to win that elusive sixth NBA championship before he calls it a career. With Sessions now on the roster and a relieved Pau Gasol, the Lakers have a great chance of becoming legitimate NBA title contenders from here on out.
