The late Kobe Bryant ‘was the greatest Laker ever,’ according to a cryptic tweet from the team’s controlling owner, Jeanie Buss.
That high praise from the 60-year-old scioness comes as fans are pushing the Lakers to trade for Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving and reunite him with his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, LeBron James, following Los Angeles’ dreadful 33-49 season.
‘I miss KB,’ Buss tweeted. ‘He would understand and explain everything that I’m not allowed to. Honestly he was the greatest Laker ever. He understood team over self. Meaning your rewards would come if you valued team goals over your own then everything would fall into place.’
Kobe Bryant ‘was the greatest Laker ever,’ according to a cryptic tweet from the team owner, Jeanie Buss, who is rumored to be interested in reuniting Kyrie Irving with LeBron James in LA
Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss was particularly close to Kobe Bryant and his family. Her tweet was obviously meant to reflect how much she missed Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020, but may have also been a reference to LA’s rumored interest in Kyrie Irving
Bryant remains a fan favorite in Los Angeles, where he guided the Lakers to five NBA titles
Buss was particularly close to Kobe Bryant and his family prior to his death in a 2020 helicopter accident, so the tweet was obviously meant as an homage to the five-time NBA champion with not one, but two, different numbers retired by the team.
However, it’s not clear if Buss was addressing fans’ hopes that the Lakers can acquire Irving, the 30-year-old All-Star point guard who has faced criticism amid an ongoing, and ostensibly acrimonious, departure from Brooklyn.
What’s particularly striking is the language she used to describe Bryant, who was known for his dedication, at time when she’s being pushed to acquire Irving, who gained a reputation as a malcontent in Cleveland, Boston, and now Brooklyn.
Regardless of her intentions, fans took the post to be a reference to Irving, who is reportedly ‘focused on getting to the Lakers,’ according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
‘We all miss Kobe,’ responded one fan, who posted a mockup of Irving in a Lakers jersey alongside James. ‘But get Kyrie Jeanie.’
‘Make him proud and deliver Kyrie to this franchise,’ tweeted another fan, alongside a faded image of Bryant picture among the clouds. ‘He was meant to don purple and gold.’
While Lakers fans beg Buss to trade for Irving, others in the media have condemned the polarizing star for an array of perceived offenses, including his refusal to comply with New York City’s vaccine mandate. As a result, Irving played in only 29 regular season games, most of which came after mayor Eric Adams lifted the mandate.
‘No matter what options you may think you have down the road, it all starts with you having to show up to work first,’ ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on Twitter last week, criticizing Irving’s poor attendance in 2021-22.
Fans took Buss’s post to be a reference to Kyrie Irving, who is reportedly ‘focused on getting to the Lakers,’ according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. ‘We all miss Kobe,’ responded one fan, who posted a mockup of Irving (left) in a Lakers jersey alongside James (right). ‘But get Kyrie Jeanie’
One Laker fan posted the image of a faded Bryant look on from the clouds to push the team to acquire Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving
IS KOBE ‘GREATEST LAKER EVER’?
By Alex Raskin, Sports News Editor for Daily Mail Online
Calling Kobe Bryant the ‘greatest Laker ever,’ as team owner Jeanie Buss did on Twitter, is hardly faint praise.
Los Angeles is one of the NBA’s two premiere franchises, along with the Boston Celtics, both of which have won 17 league titles. And unlike Boston, which has only a Bill Russell-Larry Bird debate for the greatest player in franchise history, Lakers fans can justifiably pick between any one of eight legends.
The following are the greatest players in Lakers history, beginning with the team’s birth in Minneapolis in 1948:
George Mikan: The NBA’s first giant, the near-sighted 6-foot-10 Mikan dominated the early years of the league, helping the Minneapolis Lakers win five league titles and winning the 1949 Most Valuable Player award. He averaged 23.1 points a game over seven seasons before retiring due to injuries, but his impact on the game has remained. Not only did the NCAA adopt goaltending rules to minimize his height advantage when he played collegiately at DePaul, but slowdown tactics teams used against him ultimately led to the creation of the 24-second clock.
George Mikan helped guide the Lakers to their first five league titles in Minneapolis
Lakers teammates and franchise icons Jerry West (left) and Elgin Baylor (right)
Elgin Baylor: An 11-time All-Star whose career stretched from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, Baylor never won a title with the Lakers, but is credited with popularizing the NBA on the West Coast and serving as a role model for the next generation of league superstars. The team honored him with a statue outside of what was then known as Staples Center in 2018.
Jerry West: Best known as the NBA’s logo (the league emblem is a silhouette of a young West), the West Virginia native famously teamed up with Baylor to create one of the most formidable duos in NBA history. Although his career as defined by nine Finals defeats, mostly at the hands of the rival Celtics, West did eventually win a title alongside Wilt Chamberlain in Los Angeles in 1972.
Wilt Chamberlain: Already an NBA champion and legend by the team he was traded to the Lakers from the Philadelphia 76ers in 1968, the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain ultimately helped push the Lakers over the top in 1972, but not until after his greatest rival, Bill Russell, had retired in Boston, effectively ending the Celtics dynasty. Chamberlain, a 13-team time All-Star, led the NBA in scoring seven times and famously set a league record by dropping 100 points in a single game for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 of the Milwaukee Bucks contests the dunk attempt by Wilt Chamberlain #13 of the Los Angeles Lakers during Game One of the Western Conference Finals on April 9, 1971 at the Milwaukee Arena
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Like Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar was already an NBA champion when the Lakers acquired him in a trade in 1975. The 7-foot-2 center made an immediate impact on offense, going on to score more points than any player in NBA history, but it wasn’t until the Lakers drafted Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson in 1979 that Kareem began enjoying success in LA. The polar opposite personalties would team up for five NBA titles before Abdul-Jabbar retired in 1989.
Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson: Considered by many to be the greatest passer in NBA history, Johnson was the catalyst of the Lakers’ ‘Showtime’ offense, and helped turn the league into one of the greatest spectacles of the 1980s. In addition to five NBA titles and an Olympic Gold, Johnson’s career will be remembered for his abrupt retirement in 1991, when he announced he had contracted HIV. Although he would come back to play in the Olympics and had a brief comeback with the Lakers in 1996, the announcement marked the end of one the most celebrated careers in team history. Like West, Johnson would eventually move into the Lakers’ front office, but despite his close ties to Buss, he stepped down from his role as team president in 2019.
Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson (right) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (left) won five titles together
Shaquille O’Neal: One of two major off-season acquisitions for West, the Lakers general manager, in 1996, Shaq became the foundation for the team’s next dynasty after the Showtime years. While winning three titles and three MVP awards in Los Angeles, O’Neal fulfilled the promise he’d shown in his younger days, and became the next great Lakers center, following in the footsteps of Mikan, Chamberlain, and Abdul-Jabbar.
Kobe Bryant: Like O’Neal, Bryant was acquired by West in 1996. The 13th pick of that year’s draft by the Charlotte Hornets, Bryant was sent to LA in exchange for center Vlade Divac. Over the next two decades, the young Bryant would became the face of the franchise, first teaming with O’Neal for three titles, before joining forces with Pau Gasol for another two before his retirement in 2016. Bryant finished his career in style by dropping 60 points in his final game to cap a career that included a league MVP award and two scoring titles, not to mention 18 All-Star selections.
Shaquille O’Neal (left) and Kobe Bryant (right) teamed up for three NBA titles in LA
Irving’s reported interest in the Lakers is a bit curious, given the fact that he opted into the final season and $37 million of his contract with the Nets last week, forgoing the chance to become a free agent.
But that decision does make financial sense for Irving.
Given the Lakers’ roughly $170 million payroll, LA is hopelessly over the league’s ‘soft’ salary cap ($123.7 million) and luxury tax apron ($150.3 million), so they’d only be able to offer Irving the tax-payer’s mid-level exception of $6.3 million for the 2022-23 season.
By opting into the final year of his contract, Irving preserved his eight-figure salary, but now he needs Brooklyn’s front office to help accommodate his hope for a trade.
And that’s where things get tricky.
Irving’s relationship with the Nets has reportedly become strained following a season in which he played only 29 games, in part, due to his refusal to comply with New York City’s vaccine mandate. Brooklyn was swept in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs by the Boston Celtics, Irving’s former team.
On Saturday, Yahoo! Sports reported that the Nets and Lakers are actively engaged in a trade that would send Irving to LA and bring former All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook back to Brooklyn.
However, there are considerable obstacles, not least of which is Westbrook’s notable decline in recent seasons.
The 33-year-old former UCLA star averaged just 18.5 points a game last season (his lowest mark since his second season in 2009-10) while shooting an abysmal 29.8 percent from 3-point range and just 66.7 percent at the line.
The Lakers are also facing a dwindling number of trade assets to sweeten any reported deal, having traded several future first-round picks to the New Orleans Pelicans to acquire Anthony Davis in 2020.
On Saturday, Yahoo! Sports reported that the Nets and Lakers are engaged in a trade that would send Irving to LA and bring former All-Star Russell Westbrook (left) back to Brooklyn
For his part, LeBron James is reportedly interested in reuniting with Irving, according to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein.
‘It stems from repeated rumbles in circulation that LeBron James is rooting hard for Irving’s addition to the roster,’ Stein wrote on Substack.
‘James, I’m told, wants to see Irving in Lakerland more than anyone.’
The two famously won a title together in Cleveland, coming back from a 3-1 Finals deficit against the Golden State Warriors in 2016 to capture the club’s first championship, but the relationship fizzled soon after.
Irving ultimately asked for a trade in 2017, and the team complied, sending him to the Boston Celtics. As ESPN reported at the time, the New Jersey native no longer wanted to play alongside James, citing a desire to be a team’s focal point. The two have remained hospitable when facing off on the court and are typically seen greeting each other with a hug.
An unceremonious departure from Brooklyn would be the third of Irving’s career, following Cleveland and, ultimately, Boston.
After two strong seasons with the Celtics, Irving walked back a pledge to re-sign with the team to ink a deal with the rival Nets, along with Kevin Durant, in July of 2019.
Now Durant, too, is reportedly seeking a trade out of Brooklyn, according to multiple reports.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka alongside Darvin Ham (right), the team’s new head coach
Irving has become a controversial figure around NBA arenas following his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The seven-time All-Star played only 29 of 82 games this season due to a local New York City mandate, for which he was ultimately given an exemption, and the team’s decision to hold him out of practice and road games, which the club reversed in late December.
Following the first-round playoff exit, Nets assistant coach and former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire admitted that Irving’s frequent absences had a significant impact on Brooklyn this year.
‘Yeah, I think it hurt us’ Stoudemire, who has since left the Nets, told ESPN in May. ‘It definitely hurt us because we didn’t have consistency enough with Kyrie to build chemistry with the group, with the team.
‘He’s playing only away games depending which city it is … can’t play in New York … therefore we had different lineups, different matchups depending on the game schedule. So it made it difficult for us coaches to figure out who’s going to play in spite of Kyrie. So it was difficult for us to manage that so yeah, it was part of that.’
Despite the turmoil, Irving once again made it seem like he’d be staying put after the season.
‘I don’t really plan on going anywhere,’ he said following the Nets’ elimination.
And once again, that appears not to be the case.
After two strong seasons with the Celtics, Irving (left) walked back a pledge to re-sign with the team to ink a deal with the rival Nets, along with Kevin Durant (right), in July of 2019. Now Durant, too, is reportedly seeking a trade out of Brooklyn, according to multiple reports
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
