Cheer Up, Lamar Odom And Derek Fisher: Kobe's Going To Bring You Back Home

The Lakers are like a progressive, experimental insane asylum already run by the insane, but then the incarcerated insane take over from the insane running the place, and agree to a power-sharing program where nobody's quite sure which of the insane people are in charge. All of which is to put this in context: Kobe Bryant wants to be the GM now.

NBA.com reports that Bryant is going to push hard to get Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher back in Los Angeles this summer, a move that would require lobbying both Odom and Fisher and Mitch Kupchak. With the Lakers payroll consistently high, it's not clear how they'd make it happen: but then it's not clear if Pau and Bynum will be around next year either.

Fisher was traded not because the Lakers didn't want him on the roster, but because they were afraid of causing offense by benching him. After acquiring Ramon Sessions, they weren't prepared to wait and see how Fisher adapted to life as a backup.

"It crossed our minds, but I know he would have been professional," Kupchak said at the time. "Personally, I think it would have been a tough position to put a player like that in."

But Fisher will be fine. Derek Fisher getting traded, being bought out, and returning to the Lakers the next summer is pretty much the life cycle of a salmon. The real question mark is Odom, possibly the most sensitive man in the NBA. Seeing his name included in the failed Chris Paul trade supposedly upset him so much that he demanded to be put on the next plane out of Los Angeles. The Lakers sent him to Dallas for a draft pick, salary relief, and not much else, but Odom's spent the season in a funk. Multiple benchings, boos from the crowd, the threat of the D-League—Odom's been sleepwalking through the year like someone who is, quite honestly, clinically depressed. Would Odom want to return to his happy place, or is he still feeling betrayed? A lot of moving parts here, but Kobe tends to get what Kobe wants.

KOBE WANTS ODOM, FISHER BACK [NBA.com]