Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti goes to Italy every summer to spend a few weeks at his vacation home, an unpretentious family heirloom 90 minutes east of Rome.
He'll fly there for free this summer.
The Lakers honored Vitti's 32 years of service with them — he's retiring after this season — by giving him two first-class tickets to Italy. They also presented him with a large framed Lakers jersey with his name on the back and purple-and-gold medical cross instead of a number.
The Lakers were so wrapped up in Sunday's on-court presentation, which happened after the first quarter against the Boston Celtics, that they didn't discuss game strategy and took a timeout 12 seconds into the second quarter.