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NBA Courtside: “I think this is his final year with the Lakers. I think he’ll go back to Cleveland and play one more year there” - Byron Scott on LeBron James (Via Byron Scott fast break)
NBA Courtside: Byron Scott and Olden Polynice don’t think LeBron will retire in LA because he is not a ‘true Laker’ Olden: He’s not a true Laker Byron: I think that’s part of it. You got so many greats who have retired a Laker. I think LeBron likes going off script Olden: I’m not trying to be disrespectful but just his mentality. Just like the fan base. There are Laker fan base, and there are Kobe fan base.
Jeremy Lin spent one year on the Lakers during the 2014-15 season, which was Bryant’s penultimate season in the league. During a recent episode of Dwight Howard’s “Above the Rim” podcast, Lin dished on one incident that led Bryant to ice him out for several months. The Taiwanese-American guard recalled a disagreement he had with Bryant during a late-game situation that year. Bryant was supposedly telling Lin to foul intentionally, while then-Lakers head coach Byron Scott urged Lin not to. The conflicting advice kept Lin from fouling right away. Lin noticed Bryant display negative body language toward him over the incident, prompting the point guard to text his superstar teammate after the game. “I texted him, ‘Hey man, I don’t appreciate the body language,’ Lin recounted to Howard. “And he came back with a sharp response, and I came back at him. “It ended cordial, where I ended up saying, ‘I’m not saying you can’t teach me. You’re obviously a hundred times the player that I am. I want to learn anything and everything I can from you. I’m just asking if, could you just say and do it in a way that’s respectful to me as a man.'” According to Lin, Bryant initially responded positively, saying he understood the message and even gave him specific areas to work on. Lin then revealed that Bryant didn’t speak to him “for the next five months.”
Former Laker Byron Scott wants LeBron off his team. "I think this should be his last year here... You don't have to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here."😳 (h/t @TheNBABase )
Former Laker Byron Scott wants LeBron off his team.
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 27, 2026
"I think this should be his last year here... You don't have to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here."😳
(h/t @TheNBABase )
pic.twitter.com/RUd5lr0S2J
While James' agent, Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul, has his back, Paul refused to outright call Scott out for his remarks towards the Lakers star out of respect for one of the OGs of the sport. “You can say or do something that looks or feels good in the moment, but looks foolish and probably is foolish and lives foolishly forever. For me I was always taught to respect my elders. To respect everyone, but definitely to respect my elders,” Paul said on the latest episode of the Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman. “But then someday I sit there and think, and I see things, and I’m like but what about when your elders do things or say things that actually warrants disrespect. And it’s been a lot of that going on.”
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Q. How much was Magic freelancing the key to success of that team, the Showtime? Byron Scott: I think every opportunity that he got to kind of go off script of things that were supposed to be playing because of the way that opponents played us, it was probably 75 percent of the time. As great a coach as Pat Riley was, Magic, I still say to this day the greatest point guard I've ever seen.
Q. You said Magic was freelancing 75 percent of the time. I mean that’s… Byron Scott: He was like I said controlling everything. He controlled the game. The closest to him to me right now is the Joker (Nikola Jokic). The Joker is a guy that controls the pace, the guys that play with him understand that he is more than willing to make them better and to help them. So I think he is the closest to Magic Johnson that I've seen and I'm not going by position, just is the way his knowledge of the game and the way that he sees the game. He's probably the closest in the game today. Well, he's changing the game now. They used to say point forwards now is a point center.
Byron Scott on how he became a Laker after being drafted by the Clippers: What was their hesitation on not signing you? Byron Scott: If you hear some of the stories, Donald Sterling wanted a Laker. He wanted a Laker badly. And I think he had met with Dr. Jerry Buss at some dinner or something and they talked about some things and Norm Nixon's name was mentioned. So Sterling went back to the head guys, Pete Babcock and those guys, and said ‘I want to make this trade’. So basically the Clippers traded my draft rights to the Lakers and Swen Nater for Norm Nixon and Eddie Jordan.
Q. When did it hit you, like ‘He's different’. Byron Scott: I met Kobe Bryant at the rookie transitional program in Orlando. They gave me Kobe as one of my rookies. This rookie program that they was trying to show all these rookies how to save their money, how to invest their money and things like that, and what to watch out for in the league and all this stuff. So, I was waiting for a week before I met him on the basketball court when I came with the Lakers. So, the first month of watching him on the basketball court, I said, ‘Yeah, this kid is different.’ Cuz I never seen an 18-year-old that dedicated. And I mean he's there two hours before practice. He was there sometimes waiting on Gary Vitty to open up just so he can get dressed and go on the court and shoot.
Former Laker Byron Scott, who said he knew Campbell’s family because Scott also grew up in Inglewood and went to Morningside, said the news was painful to hear. Scott and Campbell were teammates on the Lakers when Scott returned for his final season back with L.A. in 1996-97. “I just remember his demeanor. That’s why we nicknamed him ‘Easy E,’ ” Scott told The Times. “He was just so cool, nothing speeding him up. He was going to take his time. He was just easy. He was such a good dude. I loved Easy, man.”
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During his postgame comments, Klay Thompson referenced a video clip of Bryon Scott foreshadowing the greatness of the late Kobe Bryant. “I’m not saying he’s going to be Kobe, but I remember this clip of Byron Scott looking in the camera talking about how great Kobe’s going to be when he was 18 years old.” Thompson said. “I feel like B-Scott sometimes. The old, wise veteran that has the future of the franchise to my side. It’s pretty cool to be a part of and we’re all going to be witnesses to what Cooper Flagg is going to do for a long time.”
Q. I want you to tell us your top five all-time Lakers. Lakers, not players, but Lakers. Magic Johnson: You got to start with Cap [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar]. You got to Kobe Bryant. That's easy. Them two are easy. Byron Scott: I think the first three are easy. Them two and you. You got to put yourself on. Magic Johnson: I don't really talk about myself… Byron Scott: That three is pretty damn easy, you got two more Buck. Magic Johnson: And it's now because he's here. He'll probably fit in there with, LeBron James, and then probably Shaquille O’Neal, but you got so many: Jerry West, you got Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, I mean you got so many dudes that it's hard to say these five. You almost had to say 15 or 20. No other franchise… Boston probably be right there with us, but not too many franchises can say they got like this many dudes who were All-Time greats. Jamaal Wilkes! The man was just… So many be it's so many guys that's what make us special. But I would say this: Kobe, one of my favorites. Cap, one of my favorites because nobody in this league ever has dominated like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And nobody's dominated this city. Remember this. No, this dude got more championships…. Nobody is in college did what Kareem did. Three in a row. Greatest college player in history by far. It's no second. Three straight national championship and three straight MVPs of the of the of the finals as well. The greatest to ever change basketball forever. Nobody's done what Kareem was able to do for the game, college, and the NBA. What that what he's been able to do, it's been amazing.
Gary Vitti: When you're trying to slow down, these muscles are lengthening under great tension, more tension than when you're when the muscles are shortening. When you're running in a straight line, they're shortening. Okay? Now they're lengthening on their great tension. And if they can't handle the load, wherever that load is at that moment, if that link in the kinetic chain can't handle the load, it's going to fail and that's where you're going to get hurt. Okay? And it's kind of that simple. Now, you add in the turning, torque, twisting. Hey, now you're really putting yourself in harm's way because that's how we tear ACL's. That's how we tear meniscus in your knee. You don't tear a meniscus by running in a straight line. You tear it when you plant your foot and turn. Okay. And so, so yes, it is about playing too much basketball, but probably not so much as playing so much and not having recovery time. It's playing so much that you've developed these postural and movement dysfunctional patterns.
Gary Vitti: So what we do know about the human body and this is well documented in the research is that repetitive movement causes compensation and the compensation causes dysfunction. In terms of basketball, the game is played between here and here. What we call the core. I'm going to ask you a question: Who's the player that you know that played over 20 years that was doing core work before we even talked about core and never got hurt. Byron Scott: Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Vitti: That's right. He was doing yoga. And he started talking to me. He didn't use the word core. He just said the game's played between here and I started listening to him and he's right.