A lot was made of the awkward silence among the three veteran additions the Los Angeles Lakers introduced to the media a few weeks ago. Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams and Brandon Bass were asked whether Kobe Bryant had reached out to them and all three players didn’t know how or want to respond to the question and therefore said nothing while anxiously awaiting the next question.
— What will Brandon Bass make this season? Find out here! —
Bass was recently asked about the awkward moment during his introductory press conference and said the following about his thoughts on the situation, via Terrance Harris of NOLA.com:
“We had a little crowd there and that’s how I started laughing because I was looking at everybody’s faces,” he said. “That reporter had to know Kobe wasn’t going to say nothing to the team.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect him to say welcome. I just expect on the first day of training camp to be on the court with him.”
As usual, anything involving Kobe and something controversial involving the superstar tends to get blown out of proportion. This situation with three of his newest teammates is no different. It was an awkward moment that will soon be forgotten once Williams, Hibbert and Bass get on the floor with Bryant during training camp in the near future.
Bass signed a two-year deal with the Lakers this summer and will add some depth to the frontcourt after Jordan Hill and Ed Davis headed elsewhere in free agency. Second-year forward Julius Randle is expected to be the starter at the four spot, but Bass could make things interesting during training camp and throughout the preseason.
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