By the time Kobe Bryant completed his 20 years in the NBA and decided to hang up his shoes both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Black Mamba were actively looking for a superstar to lead the young future stars namely Brandon Ingram, DeAngelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and other who kept coming in through drafts or trades around 2016.
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They didn’t get any success until finally in 2018, LeBron James hit free agency for the second time in Cleveland and decided to leave the Cavaliers again in 2010.
Although, it wasn’t so much drama in the media as the last time. In fact, there was drama, but, a good one that saw Reggie Miller and Chris Webber do a mock drill set up the great Dan Patrick.
Reggie Miller would bring Kobe Bryant and other Lakers legends together for recruiting LeBron James
In an episode of the Dan Patrick Show the sports media veteran had two legendary players of the NBA on his show and asked them to play a trading game to bring the then-Cleveland MVP to LA.
He assigned Miller with the task of bringing in LeBron to the Lakers while Webber had to be the Cavaliers’ management and counter it from happening.
Reggie said if he was Magic Johnson, he’ll assemble all the Lakers’ championship trophies and big-name stars including James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kobe Bean Bryant.
C-Webb mocked his recruitment pitch hilariously and said he’d just have to tell the King that Bryant would always come first for the Lakers even after retirement, and why else would Magic bring him to the meeting? Watch it in the following embed.
How have the Lakers done since James came in 2018
Unlike his 2014-18 Cavaliers tenure, the four years in LA haven’t been as successful. Although he did bring in Anthony Davis in 2019, and a championship in 2020, apart from that, not have one good season.
A lot of things played part in it. But LeBron and Rob Palinka messed up the whole squad first while bringing in AD, then to bring in reinforcements for the 2020-21, and 2021–22 seasons. Neither of which worked in any way, shape, or form.
![Jason Williams and Chris Webber have always been known to indulge in strange antics with each other, which was raised by Comedian Andrew Schulz, on his show, Flagrant. Appearing on the show, Jason Williams was asked whether he was involved "in a drive-by paintball shooting of Chris Webber's house in Sacramento". The White Chocolate burst into laughter and "plead the fifth". Williams confessed that maybe "his house caught some bullets along the way". However, to everyone's surprise, he told the comedian that "he [Chris Webber] was probably with me in some them drivebys." Adding to this, Williams also shared a hilarious story of a similar driveby with Webber, where the latter's shoe fell off but he had to somehow get it back. "We were doing that one time..we couldn't get in the gate or something so we decided we're going to go down and do our thing at the security guard at night, right, so we got two little scooters we are riding on these scooters and we dropped them in the dark and we are walking through the woods and whatever, we go the paintballs, we got the rocks, boom boom and we take off and left the scooters. But C Web's shoe falls off. And we got back and I was like 'Bro, where is your shoe?'" The story left everyone in the panel in splits as Williams made the 2021 Hall of Fame Inductee go all the way back to fetch his shoe because living in an all-white community, Webber was probably the only one with that size of shoe. However, on a serious note, the 2006 NBA champion confessed that it was one of the most fun times he had with his former teammate. He added that "it was a blessing in disguise" because they had to play a lot of games in different locations. It is obviously heartwarming to see such a chemistry between the legendary duo of Sacramento Kings. Jason Williams once had to travel in the undercarriage of the team bus Rookie hazing has been a part of teams in the NBA, where the veterans on the team try to build chemistry with young players in their own ways like alotting chores. Chris Webber once narrated one such incident where the rookie Jason Williams hid in the undercarriage of the team bus to avoid it. Upon reaching the hotel, the team noticed that Williams was missing. After searching for some time, the team looked under the bus and there was the 1998 draftee. When Webber asked him the reason, White Chocolate responded, "I don't wanna ride with y'all bi*ches up here." Even though it is a fun tradition among teammates to get to know each other, it did take a toll on the one-time All-Star. However, it was not long after this, the two developed good team ability to make some amazing plays together.](https://cdn-wp.thesportsrush.com/2023/11/7f3ad985-nba-2023-11-08t231816.707.jpg?format=auto&w=384&q=75)
