The Lakers have been a franchise known for having stars and winning championships, something that the Buss family is familiar with. They have made it a standard since inheriting the team when Jerry bought it, although one of the most influential players that crossed paths with the organization was Bryant in 1996.

He was able to win five championships for the organization, three with O’Neal early in his career and then two with Gasol later on. Bryant was someone who could score at will and the way his ‘Mamba Mentality’ is idolized, there are so many moments and stories that he has left Lakers fans.

Jeanie was asked about her favorite Bryant moments and while it is hard to pick a few, she has two that are prominent, via Big Baby Jonathan:

“There are so many great memories. I guess I would, you know think to the 81 point game and I’ve had to explain many times to people that it wasn’t Kobe just playing in garbage time and you know taking advantage of a team that was under manned. We were behind at halftime and Kobe did what Kobe had to do to make sure we won that game. So, he scored 81 points to make sure that the Lakers would walk away with that victory. A few weeks before that, he had gone for 60 or 61 points against the Dallas Mavericks and that was by just the third quarter. Phil [Jackson] took him out in the fourth quarter and I’ll never forget our drive home, I got in an argument with Phil and I said, ‘why didn’t you just leave Kobe in? You know he was scoring at will.’ He said ‘Jeanie we were gonna win the game, what was the point? You don’t do that, that’s not what you do.’ Then for him to you know a few weeks later, score 81 points because that’s what he had to do. You know that the willpower of Kobe was so strong and could never be underestimated.

Bryant has been the closest to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point record with that 81-point game, something that many people view as the league’s best scoring performance. His power to score at will was something to behold and Jeanie recognized that.

While Bryant’s passing was way too soon, it is always fun to go and watch some of many great scoring performances the Mamba has given the Lakers organization to appreciate the kind of player he was.

Derek Fisher named head coach at Crespi High School in Encino

A former championship teammate of Bryant, Derek Fisher, has landed another head coaching gig. Fisher will now be the head coach at Crespi High School in Encino. After coaching in the NBA and WNBA, Fisher will now experiment at the high school level.

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With the Los Angeles Lakers having to make drastic changes at the trade deadline, they miraculously were able to climb out of the 13th seed to the seventh spot to participate in the Play-In Tournament against the eighth-seeded Timberwolves. Edwards would struggle with the defense of former teammate Jarred Vanderbilt as the Georgia product would only score nine points on 3-for-17 shooting and 0-for-9 from 3 in a loss against the Lakers.

But there is no denying the talent that Edwards possesses as he is bound to be better in postseason situations as his career goes on. He has been showing up big for Team USA this summer and most recently dropped 34 points in a comeback win against Germany to close out their exhibition schedule. However, the 22-year-old revealed his all-time starting five which included two Lakers greats, via Hatedzs:

Anthony Edwards “ Top 5 “

“ & of course who? “

Y’all know who his goat is? pic.twitter.com/ILbOJg20Hu

— 𝟑𝟓 ✰ (@Hatedzs) August 20, 2023

During the summer, all-time starting fives have seemed to be the consistent question asked to NBA players. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden were two notable players who shared their respective lineups and both featured Lakers legends. Now Edwards, joins Curry and Harden by including Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in their starting fives along with Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Kevin Durant.

Bryant is arguably one of the most dynamic scorers since Jordan and O’Neal was the most dominant center that the league has seen. Bryant and O’Neal provided plenty of highlights throughout their playing time together, despite their differences with one another, and were able to accomplish a three-peat winning it all in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

The Lakers have been a successful and historic franchise known for having their stars throughout the decades. It has become hard to have an all-time starting lineup without a player who’s worn the purple and gold at some point in their career.

Curry calls himself best point guard ever over Magic Johnson

Now that Curry has revealed his all-time starting five, he has now come out to say that he’s the best point guard ever over Lakers legend Magic Johnson. This has been more and more of a debate as Curry won more championships throughout his career, but there is an argument to be made for Curry and for Johnson, judging by accolades.

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Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has been a steady contributor for USA off the bench and Sunday was another case of that. When Reaves initially committed to Team USA, there was some disgruntled NBA fans believing that he was not worthy of the spot, but that has not been the case five games in.

USA trailed by 16 points against Germany in the third quarter and desperately needed a spark, thus Reaves and Tyrese Haliburton were inserted by head coach Steve Kerr and the game completely turned around.

The Arkansas native played the whole fourth quarter and finished with 16 points on 66% from the field and 2-for-2 from 3. It has been made clear that isn’t a fluke and Reaves is a quality NBA player. It seems that people involved with the USA program were not expecting this kind of impact, via ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:

“A player that I had several people say has really impressed them and been, like, much better than they were expecting has been Austin Reaves.”

It has been eye-opening how Reaves has been able to fit in with this USA roster with so many young and talented scorers who are used to be the No. 1 option. The second-year guard has received high praise from Kerr and described as a ‘connector’ for this USA team, and it has shown. When the starting five gets stagnant, Reaves and or Haliburton lead the charge and make the offense more fluid and free-flowing.

Reaves seems to have been able to form positive relationships with Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges and Brandon Ingram as they’ve had said their positive comments about the Lakers guard. Chemistry is a key factor when bringing in egos and the top guys of the league, in this case bringing in the up-and-coming talents. Kerr has to be able to figure it out on the fly and it seems that the players are fond of one another.

With the draft, free agency and Summer League out of the picture, fans now anxiously wait for preseason. But, seeing Reaves thrive in his first year with Team USA has filled that void. While this roster is still very young, they have been able to figure it out while picking up five straight wins heading into the World Cup.

LeBron James praises Edwards during 34-point performance for Team USA

While Reaves and Haliburton did play a key role in turning Sunday’s game around, it was Edwards who was on fire, dropping 34 points while hitting timely shots in the fourth quarter to close it out. Lakers star LeBron James was watching and showed some praise towards Edwards after USA got the win.

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Reaves’ journey to the NBA was an intriguing one after playing for Wichita State for two seasons before transferring to Oklahoma, where he would finish out his collegiate career and declare for the NBA Draft. Reaves then declined an opportunity to get drafted by the Detroit Pistons, instead choosing to go undrafted and signing with the Lakers.

Fast forward two years and Reaves is coming off a great sophomore season, cashing in on a new contract with the Lakers after a great postseason and now playing for Team USA for the FIBA Cup this August. At his first practice for Team USA, the Arkansas native reflected on how he never lost belief in himself on his long journey to get to this point, via Justin Russo:

“I don’t know if I’d say impressed with myself,” Reaves told Russo Writes when asked if he’s allowed himself to be impressed with how far he’s made it in his career in such a short period.

“Because I kind of always felt like it was possible for me. Maybe if no one else believed it, I kind of believed it myself to go out there and figure it out. That was the main thing for me. I knew if I got an opportunity, I would go figure it out. If it was defense or diving on the floor for loose balls, I was gonna find a way to get on the court. So, for me, it was kind of believable for me but a lot of everybody else probably was sitting there wondering how it happened.”

Being an undrafted player, Reaves has had a chip on his shoulder and in a way bet on himself to sign to the right situation and prove himself. He is now heading into his third season and is expected to take on more of a workload ball-handling wise and a consistent scoring option.

While people can take motivation from Reaves’ story, he knows there are other players in the league that followed similar paths as well:

“Yeah, for sure,” Reaves said when asked if he thinks other players can look up to him as a form of motivation for themselves.

“But, you know, me and then you got, what was it, four guys on Miami, maybe more, that were undrafted, went to the Finals, played a big piece of them getting there. Yeah, anytime you hear guys that go undrafted and kind of start paving their way in the league, you know, you kind of gravitate towards them if you don’t know them, just knowing the grind that it was and the kind of disrespect that you got, even if it was high school, college, whatever it was. It’s definitely always good to see that path kind of work for people.”

The Lakers scouting department has gotten it’s props for finding prospects that went undrafted or in the late rounds in recent years, and Reaves is just the latest success story in the organization.

Colin Castleton credits Reaves for laying foundation for undrafted players

Another Lakers player who followed a similar path as Reaves is Lakers rookie center Colin Castleton. They share an agent and like Reaves, Castleton chose to go undrafted this year in order to sign with the Lakers.

In a recent interview with Lakers Nation, Castleton expressed appreciation to Reaves for laying the foundation for undrafted players to be successful in the NBA.

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Despite some skepticism though, the team is 3-0 so far in their exhibition games, beating Puerto Rico handily 117-74, Slovenia with no Luka Doncic 92-62 and Spain 98-88. Team USA has shown some growing pains as expected with these teams due to the high talent level, but has been able to figure it out while picking up wins.

A player that has been getting praise from teammates and coaches is Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who has been a key piece off the bench. Head coach Steve Kerr has been an advocate of Reaves’, and now former Laker forward Brandon Ingram has done so as well. Ingram issomeone that Reaves said he was excited to play with on the USA squad, and now the former Laker is showing some respect to the Arkansas native, via Dan Woike of L.A. Times:

“From afar, I’ve watched him,” Ingram said. “The one thing I’ve noticed is that he’s consistent at how he plays and he doesn’t do anything outside of how he plays. And he’s really detailed on the defensive end, whether it’s him being in front of the ball, boxing out on a rebound, whatever it is, he does it.

“… He’s going to be good for us.”

When Reaves initially committed to playing with Team USA, there was some displeasure with the move due to the 6’5″ guard’s lack of experience. Many though Reaves only got the spot due to the media attention the Lakers get. But, he has silenced that noise with his steady play off the bench so far.

Reaves has been one of the first guards off the bench along with Indiana Pacers Tyrese Haliburton, both of which are great and willing passers, which is needed for a team that has enough scoring on the roster. Reaves has been in double-figure scoring the past two games, chipping in with rebounds and assists, to be that steady force off the bench.

USA’s next game is against Greece on Aug. 18, which will be without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who just announced he’ll be sitting out of the World Cup.

LeBron James & Reaves featured in NBA 2K24 gameplay trailer

With the release of NBA 2K24 happening in less than a month, 2K just released a gameplay trailer that featured Reaves and LeBron James. Reaves was seen doing his iconic ‘I’m Him!’ moment that happened in Game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

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