By J.A. Adande
It might seem normal for a team’s executive vice president to inform the coach that a key player would miss practice because of extenuating circumstances. But is anything in Lakerland really normal? So here’s how Phil Jackson learned that Kobe Bryant wouldn’t be at the morning shootaround Wednesday after a SWAT team standoff in Bryant’s Newport Beach neighborhood following a robbery.
“I was in the shower and Jeanie walked in,” Jackson said.
Jackson and Buss, the team’s executive vice president of business operations, have dated since Jackson’s first season coaching the Lakers in 1999-2000.
According to the Los Angeles Times, four armed men entered the home of former subprime mortgage lender Daniel Sadek Tuesday night, while a fifth suspect waited outside. Police sealed off the barricaded community and Bryant remained home as a precautionary measure. Three men were caught and arrested and the two others were at large.
Bryant played in the Lakers’ game against the Utah Jazz at Staples Center Wednesday night.