Biggest Revelations from Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and D-12 Exit Interviews

With their season unceremoniously swept into the dustpan by the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Lakers' summer officially began Tuesday upon conclusion of the team's exit interviews with the media. To say that a few nuggets of interesting info were dropped would be a bit of an understatement.

After a tumultuous season where it was constantly on the ropes, being dispatched so quickly in the first round almost felt like a sigh of relief for the team and the fanbase.

There's a general sense after such a disastrous season, all culminating in the moment that Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles tendon, that time off to get ready for next season is extremely desirable.

We've got to start out with perhaps the most important revelation of the exit interviews, and that's Kobe's television-watching habits since hurting his ankle:

Kobe just got into "Game of Thrones" while recovering from this injury. Gasol a huge fan, read the books. #winteriscoming

— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) April 30, 2013 I'm certain that Gasol's infatuation with of the King in the North is just a knee-jerk reaction, but Kobe seems to be a Stannis Baratheon kind of guy, perhaps even more the Daenerys type.

That's something I'll wrestle with myself a little bit later.

Kobe's health was a small topic of discussion for the exit interviews, Bryant both dispelling the notion that he played too many minutes this season and then asserting that he would be back and ready to play on day one:

Kobe: "Do you think Mike really can keep me in or out of a game?"

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) April 30, 2013 Kobe confident he will be ready for season opener.

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) April 30, 2013 Aside from that, there were two other things that Bryant was adamant about moving forward: Los Angeles is the place for Dwight Howard, and he wants to continue to play alongside Pau ...