Twitter Pics and Instagrams from the Los Angeles Lakers Soap Opera Season

The Los Angeles Lakers are going through a soap opera of a season right now, so here for the long-suffering (21 games of mediocrity must feel like a lifetime for the Lakers) Lakers fans are the best Twitter pics and Instagrams from the Lakers this season.

The Lakers' season started out with plenty of excitement thanks to these guys:

Dwight Howard and Steve Nash joining Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol? The level of anticipation in Los Angeles was outrageous. But boy, does that seem like a lifetime ago. A little over one month and two coaches later, the Lakers are 9-12 and all anyone in Lakerland can think of is this.

But that's enough depressing imagery for now. Here are a few pictures from the Lakers' season that will (hopefully) put a smile on the faces of Lakers fans everywhere.

Pau Gasol's 15,000th NBA Point:

This picture is great because it's not only a great accomplishment (Pau is just the 10th foreign-born player to reach 15,000 points), but it also captures the first time that Pau has shown emotion on a basketball court in roughly two years. Serious question—is there a player in the league who looks like he's having less fun playing basketball than Pau Gasol?

Pau's a consummate professional and says all of the right things off of the court. But over the past few weeks you only have to look at him on the court to tell that he's not happy. And you really can't even blame him.

Pau's playing out of his comfort zone on a team that's already traded him (technically) and actively shops him at every chance they get. Throw in the fact that Kobe is constantly calling him out in the media, and you have the recipe for a seriously unhappy dude. But, hey, he looks more angry than unhappy in this picture! Progress!

Metta World Peace's New Single:

That's right. Metta World Peace's much-anticipated new rap single will apparently be available on Dec. 11 of this year. There's no point in bothering to explain why that's amazing, so let's just leave it at that.

Lego Dwight Howard:

If there was a random poll taken in which the question was—“Which current NBA player is most likely to own a life-sized Lego bust of himself?"—Dwight Howard would have won far, far before this photo was ever taken.

The really surprising thing is that Dwight didn’t say something like, “Cool Lego statue, time to go put it with the rest of them.” Be honest, you would have been zero percent surprised if that had happened.

 Metta World Peace on Lifetime:

The picture alone doesn't do Metta World Peace's Lifetime movie, “The Eleventh Victim,” justice, so here's a brief clip.

A couple of things to note here:

• The people at Lifetime somehow managed to make the name “Metta World Peace” sound normal by naming Metta's character “Garland Fincher.”
• “Hey. I still got skills.” Love it.
• It’s unclear why Metta seems to treat every word as its own sentence. Also love it. It’s. Been. Months. Since. The. Trial.
• How do Lakers fans even have time to watch basketball between listening to World Peace rapping and watching World Peace acting? Seems like a full schedule.
• Metta World Peace will absolutely star in “Kazaam 2” someday.

 

Dwight Signing Autographs:

Dwight’s face is what really makes this picture, but don’t discount the fact that he’s wearing a shirt that’s roughly five sizes too small for him. Does Dwight ever wear clothes that actually fit him? Kobe’s already told Pau to put his “big-boy pants” on—when does he get on Dwight about the big-boy shirts?

Dwight seems to choose his wardrobe in the hopes that people will think two things when they see him.

1. Dwight Howard is incredibly muscular and fit-looking.
2. I will never, ever in my life look that good.

Mission accomplished, Dwight.

Tigers:

Pau Gasol tweeted this. It has nothing to do with basketball. It’s awesome. Moving on.

Metta World Peace Birthday Invitation:

This is without doubt the greatest birthday party invitation ever made. What’s really amazing is the fact that whoever was designing it felt obligated to specify that it was World Peace’s “official” birthday party, so as to differentiate it from all of his unofficial parties. Apparently, people in Los Angeles throw birthday parties for MWP and just cross their fingers that he’ll show up.

Steve Nash and his Son:

Everyone, meet the Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard in the year 2035. Of course, that’s provided he beats out Jason Kidd and Derek Fisher for the spot. Because at the rate they're going, they’ll probably still be in the league 20 years from now.

Fun With Dwight Howard/Jordan Hill:

Dwight Howard tweeted this photo to Jordan Hill, and the resemblance is uncanny.

Dwight may have a bad reputation, but at least the guy seems like a fun teammate. Though admittedly, there are probably a few people down in Orlando who would disagree.

Kobe’s 30,000th NBA Point:

And…this is why Lakers fans still have reason to smile. Dwight’s banged up, Pau’s banged up, Nash is banged up…but they still have Kobe. They always have Kobe.

Say what you will about Kobe Bryant—that he’s just a chucker at this point, that the “best fourth-quarter player” title is just a media narrative, or that he’s just a Michael Jordan clone. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s still one of the greatest scorers alive, he’s a proven winner, and he’s on pace to have one of his most efficient seasons ever.

The Lakers are going to be just fine. Eventually, they’ll right the ship. And when they do, it’ll probably be in no small part due to Kobe Bryant.