Los Angeles Lakers May Need Dr. Phil If Trade Doesn’t Go Through

What a day in Los Angeles yesterday was. Most of the day's news was occupied by the Angels signing Albert Pujols. L.A. was hot. Most of L.A. and Orange County were raging with excitement. On my daily journey as a delivery driver, all I heard at every drop-off was, "have you heard about Pujols coming to the Angels?" The hysteria elicited rivaled that of when the Lakers beat the Celtics in the NBA Finals in June. And I was making deliveries in San Diego!

In the afternoon, as my day was coming to an end,  and I was coming back to Los Angeles to our company's hub, the news shifted from excited to other-worldly. The Lakers were involved in a trade that would bring Chris Paul to L.A. and pair him with the future Hall of Famer and ultimate game finisher Kobe Bryant. Not only were the talk-radio stations exploding with the news, but I couldn't even turn to a music station and listen to one of those "traffic-jam-mixes". 

With all the excitement, what was lost were the people who were being shipped out, Lamar Odom (along with Khloe Kardashian) and Pau Gasol. Behind Kobe Bryant, these were the two most important people on the team. They both absolutely loved being a Laker and living in Los Angeles. Lamar's new TV family is here for God's sakes! Pau was already known for wearing his emotions on his sleeve (or wrist band) seeming to sink in his on court productivity after a break up with his girlfriend (which is still unconfirmed, but it's L.A., nothing gets confirmed. Once it's tweeted, it's in existence).

Then, just as if I were back in my front yard as a kid and had just missed the ball in a game of Pickle and the ball traveled right through my mom's car window, the world stopped. The NBA (actually just David Stern, who thinks he is the NBA) vetoed the deal. Now I went from being tired of driving to looking out my rear view mirror in fear that a second coming of the Rodney King Riots were about to kick off.



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