The Lakers, like a lot of NBA teams, play several pre-season games in cities that are nowhere near NBA arenas. The idea is to give those fans a chance to see some live NBA action, which is normally a great idea. But this season, if you live in Fresno, Ontario, San Diego, or Anaheim, you may just want to pass up this opportunity. Because according to Phil Jackson, due to the heavy workload of playing through the Finals and then in the Olympics, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are likely to see an extremely limited number of pre-season minutes.
Jackson said he's trying to limit some of their activities because both are coming off the Olympics, and hinted that their participation in exhibition games could be limited as well.
"I'm just going this week, see how they're doing, how they feel, what their energy level is like," Jackson said of Bryant and Gasol. "I was told not to say that I wasn't going to play Kobe in exhibition games. So I'm not going to say that Kobe's not going to play in this exhibition, but there's a chance he may not play in exhibition games."
Ah, Phil, always the comedian. I'm sure he was told not to say anything about sitting Kobe and Pau by the league, as it probably wouldn't help ticket sales in those markets that I mentioned. Will he be fined for giving the fans and the media the heads up? Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it's worth it to have a slightly more rested duo of stars to begin the regular season.
