Derek Fisher to Oklahoma City Thunder Will Ignite Rivalry with LA Lakers

When you look at the great competitors in the NBA, there are those who look for a reason to get mad at their opponents and hold a grudge. When Derek Fisher inked with the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder recently, it gave an opportunity for Kobe Bryant to feel a rivalry brewing. 

Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles reports, 

"

Look, we don’t get five championships by being sympathetic towards each other and kissing each other's a-- during the game,” Bryant said Wednesday when asked about the Lakers’ upcoming game against the Thunder next week. “I’m going to demolish him. He understands that. If he switches off on me in the post, there’s going to be problems. I’m sure he’ll put an elbow right in my back, and that’s why we love each other.” 

"

When Bryant dropped 48 points on the Phoenix Suns earlier this year, he said, according to J.A. Adande of ESPN.com, "I don’t like them. They used to whup us pretty good and let us know about it. I won’t forget that."

Curious, I checked to see the last time the Suns "whupped" the Lakers "pretty good"—April 5, 2005 if you count "pretty good whupping" as 15 points or more. 

That's only about seven years ago. 

Point being, Kobe knows how to find a morsel and chew on it for seven years to exact revenge. So when one of his best buds goes to play for a team that's challenging his team for the supremacy of the Western Conference, you know he's only going to look forward to the next meeting, and the next, and the one after that. 

It's not like the kindling wasn't already there for a rivalry. With the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder seemingly headed for a postseason clash, perhaps even in the Western Conference Finals depending on how the seedings shake out, one was coming anyway. 

Fisher going to the Thunder just ignites a fire that was ready to blaze anyway, and makes next week's game that much more interesting.