Culver City Observer -

By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor After the Clippers set a franchise record for victories in a season Vinny del Negro was fired as coach. There was the matter of the Clippers losing in the first round...

By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor When the Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns Tuesday at Staples Center Coach Mike D’Antoni began the evening with his ninth different starting lineup in 21 games. The g...

By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor As the editor of this newspaper I urge my columnists to take a stand on issues. I don’t tell them what stand to take, but merely let readers know their position. R...

By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor My head is spinning as I leave Staples Center Sunday night. There are so many Laker topics to discuss. The Lakers have just beaten the Detroit Pistons, 113-99 and...

Good Laker News: Mark Madsen Is Back There’s been a lot of negative news about the Lakers in the recent past. The team hasn’t done much in the playoffs the last three years, Kobe Bryant has been injur...

Lakers May Be Doomed Until 2014 It’s portrayed as stunning that Dwight Howard rejected the Lakers, with their grand history, and selected the Houston Rockets as his new employer. But it’s really not...

In October, after the Lakers had signed Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, they began training camp labeled as the hottest story in the NBA. The franchise with 16 NBA championships was seemingly in...

It was all there for the Clippers – the opportunity of a lifetime. After playing in the shadow of the Lakers ever since they moved to Los Angeles in 1984 the Clippers had at long, long last o...

It’s An Uncertain Future For Kobe, Lakers There are two questions on the minds of local sports fans today. Where does Kobe Bryant go from here? And where do the Lakers go from here? Each day since B...

Lakers Honor A Very Good Guy -- Shaq When people find out I traveled with Laker teams for 23 years they often ask about the players’ personalities. They wonder how it is to be in the company of f...

‘I’m Not Going Anywhere’ – Kobe There’s been a lot of speculation about Kobe Bryant’s basketball future when his contract with the Lakers expires after one more season. Will he retire from playin...

Charles Barkley thinks San Antonio and Memphis are the Western Conference teams that might beat Miami in the NBA Finals. Both are strong on the inside. But he doubts that either could beat Oklahoma...

(EDITORfS NOTE:) Tributes to Jerry Buss in the last week have focused on his vision in bringing a brand of basketball that made the Lakers and the NBA popular all over the world. An example of this...

(EDITOR’S NOTE:) Tributes to Jerry Buss in the last week have focused on his vision in bringing a brand of basketball that made the Lakers and the NBA popular all over the world. An example of this i...

Lakers’ Owner Dies At 80 By Mitch Chortkoff Sport Editor Jerry Buss hadn’t owned the Lakers yet when I drove to his Santa Monica office in the ‘70s to discuss World Team Tennis. That was Buss...

What’s Next For The Lakers? Uncertainty The family of Jerry Buss issued a statement Monday saying they would honor their father’s wish to keep the team in the family rather than selling it fol...

It has been in the back of the minds of fans and some in the media throughout the early part of the NBA season. It has been a problem magnified by recent developments. Now it’s out in the open. The L...

If you follow the Lakers you’ve probably heard every theory about the selection of Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson as the team’s new coach. I can simplify the matter for you. Owner Jerry Buss decided...

The Lakers didn’t draft Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Wilt Chamberlain. All three came to the Lakers after they hsd established themselves with other teams. Combined, they won nine NBA cha...

Like a lot of you, I’m anxious to see how the Lakers will look with Steve Nash and Ryan Howard in their lineup. But I’m equally anxious to find out something else – something, in fact, that may be ju...

A day I’ve been dreading for awhile has arrived. It’s time to think about the Lakers’ life without Kobe Bryant, which is probably two years away. Bryant has two years left on his Lakers’ contrac...

When Del Harris became the Lakers’ coach he had a conversation with center Shaquille O’Neal one day after practice. I was listening and he didn’t care. “Shaq,’ he began, ‘the only way coaches and...

If you’ve read this column the last two weeks you know I’m not encouraged by the Lakers’ recent movements, which have left them out of salary cap room while needing roster changes. But in the NBA off-...