2009/10 Nba Season

Lakers star Kobe Bryant regrets that his 2007 trade demand became public.

"The only thing I regret was how public it had to become," Bryant told the Orange County Register. "It was something that I'd been dealing with internally for quite some time and me wanting them to make moves, as was said to me (upon re-signing in 2004). Those things were not happening, it felt like I was just out there showcasing and doing my individual thing, and they had no aspirations to spend money to try to bring a championship here.

"So I felt like something had to be said so we could get the ball rolling here. Get people to start talking about it, and the city becomes a little more impatient with the situation, and hopefully we'll get something done. And to their credit, they made a great acquisition in Pau (Gasol) and another great acquisition in Trevor (Ariza). They went out this summer and spent the money to get Ron (Artest) and locked in Lamar (Odom). To their credit, they did the right things."

Less than two years after Bryant's trade request made national headlines, the Lakers won the 2009 NBA title.

Lakers forward Ron Artest told the Boston Globe that he was a bad teammate earlier in his career.

"Playing for a team that has chances to win again is really encouraging," Artest told the Globe. "The last couple of years I was a very bad teammate. It was all me. It had nothing to do with the teams I played on. I just had a big ego and had to control it and now I'm able to control it. I still have an ego, but now I kind of have fun with it. That's the difference now."

The Lakers are looking for Artest to guard the opposing team's best scorer, taking pressure off Kobe Bryant.