King for a lifetime, fool for a... lifetime...

Trust me when I say, as a Laker fan, that this scenario would be awesome. Although it's such a tease on Marc Stein's part to bring up player movement like this and then coldly remind us all that we're not talking about this season -- or even the next. We're looking at 2006. Hopefully, by the time that season rolls around, the Lakers won't be face down in a ditch because while I fully expect to see them in the playoffs, they will certainly struggle this year without Shaquille O'Neal. I don't care what Kobe does, the loss of Shaq opens the Western Conference wide open to the point where the Lakers will be tightly competing for one of the last four playoff spots with about seven other teams. Throw Stojakovic on this side, however, and suddenly you're a threat again. He's the purest shooter in the league and unquestionably the reason why the Kings contend every year. If you're under the impression that Chris Webber was the reason for that, you are the definition of wrong.