"This wasn't just about one year," said Luke Walton, standing in a crowded, cluttered locker room that reeked of champagne and sighs. "This was about a lot of years, a long road, a long time coming."
The road began in the summer of 2004 when Buss, angry at O'Neal's contract demands, traded the legendary center and ended the Lakers' chance at building on a stretch of three consecutive titles that began in 2000.
At the same time, weary of the hassles and feeling unloved by ownership, Phil Jackson also left the team, leaving it in the hands of Bryant, a churlish leader with no followers.
The results were madness, and in 2004-05 the Lakers didn't even make the playoffs.
"The fans of Los Angeles have always had great confidence in us, but I felt for a couple of years there, they questioned that," said General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
Yet Kupchak remained steady in his vision and Bryant slowly grew up.
The first piece arrived from Miami in the deal for Shaquille O'Neal: career underachiever Odom. Then, after the failed season of Rudy Tomjanovich and Frank Hamblen, Buss admitted his mistake and paid Jackson $10 million a season to return.
Then, after they lost consecutive first-round playoff series to Phoenix -- including becoming just the eighth team in history to blow a three-games-to-one lead -- Bryant blasted the organization and said if the team wasn't improved, he wanted to be traded.
"We've been way up, then way down," said Kupchak.
But again the general manager remained steady, answering Bryant's pleas by reacquiring Fisher while trading for Ariza and Gasol.
"Got a new point guard, got a new wing, got a Spaniard, and then it was all good," Bryant said. "I had a bunch of Christmas presents that came early."
All those presents were finally opened Sunday night, Odom screaming, Gasol waving, wonder everywhere, the itch scratched, the parade through downtown Los Angeles scheduled for Wednesday, the journey complete.
Or has it just started?
Bryant can opt out of his contract this summer, but he says he can't imagine playing anywhere else. Jackson has one more year on his contract, and it appears he will honor it. The Lakers should be able to find the money to re-sign potential free agents Odom and Ariza, and surely Andrew Bynum will be older and better, right?
"When next season comes around, we'll go from there," said Bryant. "We'll be ready to work again, that's for sure."
Los Angeles will be ready to watch, this breathless ending somehow feeling like another beginning.
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bill.plaschke@latimes.com.
