LOS ANGELES — While Kobe Bryant sat on the nightclub stage, in front of a sold-out crowd of adoring fans whose credit card memberships afforded them the rare opportunity to be in his presence, the Lakers’ dismal, dysfunctional season reached new depths and the five-time champion’s farewell tour officially reached “The end can’t get here fast enough” status.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the 37-year-old Bryant had posted the worst plus-minus of his 20-year career during a 48-point loss to the Jazz, by far the worst defeat of his time with the Lakers. Here, among friends inside the Bryant bubble, the loss—and his last three seasons of decline—went unmentioned.