The Los Angeles Lakers, though not in the hunt for an NBA Championship, have sure been making headlines lately. Owner Jerry Buss was arrested on Tuesday for suspicion of DUI in Carlsbad, Calif., and today (Wednesday) Kobe Bryant says he wants out of Los Angeles. Maybe it is the deteriorating Lakers/Kobe relationship that has driven Buss to drink. Not that the Lakers owner has ever been immune to having a few totties, but getting in the car and driving is not a decision that will rank with some of his brightest; such as making the deal with Charlotte for Kobe following the 96’ draft. The way things are going in LA County, the Sheriffs Department might need to think about expanding the Celebrity Wing. At least with Paris Hilton about to enter jail and Lindsay Lohan apparently on her way, old Jerry shouldn’t be too lonely. Have you ever heard the cliché, Misery Loves Company?Â
"Although I was driving only a short distance, it was a bad decision and I was wrong to do it," Buss said in a statement.” It was a mistake I will not make again."
One can only wonder if the arrest of Buss and the situation the owner faces with his All-Star guard had anything to do with his new legal situation.Â
Kobe Bryant had his feelings hurt following accusations of an unnamed Lakers insider that Bryant forced the Shaquille O’Neil trade following the 2003-04 season. Bryant was livid after reading a report in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times that read, "As a Lakers insider notes, it was Bryant's insistence on getting away from Shaquille O'Neal that got them in this mess."
O’Neil was traded to the Miami Heat following the 2003-04-season.
The mess, as suggested by the insider, is the state of the Lakers as a team following the O’Neil trade.
Bryant, who was interviewed by Stephen A. Smith for the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, said Buss "called a meeting with me after he spoke with ESPN reporter Jim Gray to talk with him about Shaq's future in the middle of the 2004 season.
"He met with me at the Four Seasons Hotel here (in LA across from Fashion Island, which is now the Island Hotel," Bryant told Smith. "I went up to his penthouse suite. Buss looks me dead in the face and says: 'Kobe, I am not going to re-sign Shaq. I am not about to pay him $30 million a year or $80 million over three years. No way in hell. I feel like he's getting older. His body is breaking down, and I don't want to pay that money to him when I can get value for him right now rather than wait.”
Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com, a giant in the online wagering industry, were some of the first to take advantage of the Kobe Bryant situation by posting props on Bryant’s chances of being traded prior to the 2007/08 regular season.
Will Kobe Bryant play the first game of the 2007/08 regular season for the Lakers?
Yes -120
No -120
