MVP or Not, There's Drama in LA

Kobe Bryant is set to receive the NBA's MVP trophy tomorrow night, capping off what’s been a strange season for the always-mercurial Lakers guard, Mark Heisler writes in the Los Angeles Times. This season, after all, began with Bryant coming perilously close to leaving the team; it’s a good thing for Kobe that didn’t happen—but don’t think all’s well that ends well.

Bryant still won’t talk to some of the Lakers' brass, and his relationship with owner Jerry Buss is particularly frosty. The closest he’s come to mending fences is joking that GM Mitch Kupchak went from an “F to an A-plus” this season. Buss has been awfully good to Kobe over the years, Heisler writes, and Kobe owes him something more gracious. (More Kobe Bryant stories.)