BY: Shahan Ahmed, NBC Southern California
The simple answer is No. 24.
Five championships, seven trips to the NBA Finals and countless moments of brilliance over a career that has spanned nearly two decades makes it impossible to switch sides and truly support the Clippers — at least not while he’s still around.
Lakers’ fans have been spoiled more rotten than Justin Bieber in a Miami penthouse, and they altogether refuse to acknowledge the thought that the Lakers could stay bad for a prolonged stretch. The last time the Lakers were bad for a bit, Kobe Bryant was still scoring 81 points. Shortly thereafter, the Lakers won back-to-back titles.
Before that, the Lakers responded to a couple mediocre seasons by trading for Bryant and signing Shaquille O’Neal. Prior to that, the Lakers had a magical stretch with Earvin Johnson and before that, the greatest offensive player to ever play the game, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, held court in bright gold short shorts.
For generations, the Lakers have been great, and the Clippers have been a joke. Generations of Angelinos simply refuse to be reprogrammed. Instead, they choose to deny the reality that the Clippers’ future is brighter than the Lakers’ future because, well, Bryant still has the city under his spell.
For the next two seasons, Los Angeles and the world will tune in to watch Bryant play, presumably, his final years of professional basketball. One of the greatest to ever do it will end his story, and no one — not even Bryant — knows how the book will end.
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Los Angeles wants to believe in Bryant. How can anyone really doubt Kobe? Who wants to do that? Watching a phoenix rise from the ashes always makes for a better story than watching the final ashes settle on a crisply burnt house.
For nearly two decades, Bryant spoiled the city with his supreme raw talents, his dramatic off the court saga, his athletic maturation, 81 points and his back-to-back return to glory. At the twilight of his career, Bryant’s stubborn attitude not only mirrors the entire city of Los Angeles’ perpetual state of denial. It is the source of said denial.
Scary as it may be to consider, Bryant’s unwavering spell over Los Angeles will be over in a snap. If the Lakers don’t get their stuff together by then, Ballmer and the Clippers may truly pose a threat. With Bryant’s No. 24 in the rafters, the Lakers will need to give Los Angeles a reason to watch.
For now, though, Los Angeles still belongs to the Lakers, and if you hadn’t heard the conversation on the streets, “Kobe is back.”
Shahan Ahmed covers the LA Lakers for NBC Southern California. You can find more of Shahan’s articles on NBCLA’s Lakers’ blog. Also, you can follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA
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