NBA Rumors: Kobe Bryant Must Push to Get Odom, Fisher Back If He Wants to Win

Sometimes, when your team's front office can't seem to reassemble a championship team on which you're the superstar, you just have to take things into your own hands.

Such is the situation facing Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers star is reportedly going to make a hard push to get Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom back in LA when they become free agents this summer, a source told NBA.com. Whether or not they'll want to hear it is another story.

After the Lakers played Oakland on Tuesday night, Bryant was asked about whether he'd like a reunion with his two former teammates, and he told NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper that he "would hope so." When asked whether he'd shared his idea with Odom, Bryant said:

"

No, not about that, because I don't want to interfere with what he has going on in Dallas. Right now, it's just more about him being OK and making sure that he's doing what he can to help the Dallas Mavericks out.

"

Though Odom is still signed to the Mavericks through next season, his contract is only partially guaranteed and, after a disappointing 2011-12 campaign in which he has averaged 6.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in 21.3 minutes, it is possible that the 29-22 Mavericks will let him walk into free agency at season's end.

Fisher is signed to Oklahoma City through the end of 2011-12.

Bryant is right in his thinking: If Odom and Fisher return to LA, hurt feelings over being traded aside, it will be the best situation for all of them. They will be well on their way to putting back together the pieces they need to make a run to the NBA Finals, like they did in three of the last four years.

And although some might say that it's not Bryant's job to assemble his own team, it kind of is. He is, and has been, the centerpiece of this franchise for the last 16 years, and the Lakers front office has had several personnel gaffes this year, including their handling of trade speculation surrounding Pau Gasol.

This, essentially, is Bryant's team. He has paid the organization back with five championships; now, it's their turn to make sure they surround him with the players who will facilitate another one.

If the team's management isn't going to do it themselves, Bryant will just have to take matters into his own hands.