As one of the more avid soccer fans in the NBA, All-Star center Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers has a love for the sport similar to teammates Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant.
In the summer of 2010, Bynum made the trip to South Africa to watch the best soccer players in the world go head-to-head in the World Cup. Kobe also headed to South Africa in 2010 to cheer on Landon Donovan and United State squad and some of his favorite players on the eventual World Cup champion Spain.
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As arguably one of the best soccer teams in the world, Real Madrid is a must-see attraction on the pitch with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo putting his exception talent on display. With unbelievable ball control and footwork, Ronaldo’s talent on the pitch is unmatched by another other than Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
On Thursday night, Bynum was spotted at the Home Depot Center watching David Beckham’s Los Angeles Galaxy taking on Madrid according to Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com via Twitter:
Looks like Andrew Bynum is at the Real Madrid-Galaxy game. At least it was a shorter commute than the World Cup.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) August 3, 2012
Even though the Galaxy are a much improved squad with Robbie Keane playing alongside Donovan and Beckham, Madrid was by far the superior team on Thursday and dominated the up-and-comers on their home pitch, 5-1.
Madrid may have dominated the Galaxy in this contest at the Home Depot Center, but Los Angeles didn’t put up much of a fight in the second half after pulling their three best players in Beckham, Keane and Donovan.
Although Bynum was probably disappointed in the Galaxy’s performance on Thursday night, many people were probably wondering what was going on in his mind during the match with his name surfacing in endless trade rumors with the Lakers dangling him in proposals to land Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic.
Over the past few weeks, a lot of rumors have been circulating around Los Angeles about Bynum’s seemingly imminent departure. Even though no news has surfaced recently about advanced talks to acquire Howard, it seems as though it may be a foregone conclusion that Bynum won’t be wearing purple and gold next season.
Only time will tell if Howard ultimately heads to Los Angeles and Bynum is sent packing. It will be interesting to see how the saga unfolds in the coming weeks.
