Kobe Bryant Calls Derek Fisher Favorite Lakers Teammate, Would Welcome Him Back

Objectivity has never been Kobe Bryant's strong suit.

The Black Mamba is notorious for speaking his mind and playing favorites. If he's thinking it, there's a good chance he'll verbalize it without regard for anyone else.

Age has admittedly humbled Vino, but it hasn't changed him completely. Though time can rip youth out of the shooting guard, it will never strip him of his brash honesty.

His latest foray into the shameless truth has him making a case for the Los Angeles Lakers to bring back Derek Fisher. While in Dubai, Kobe was asked who his all-time favorite teammate was. He wasted little time in singing the praises of the point guard.

“My all time favorite teammate has always been Derek Fisher," Kobe said, according to ProBasketballTalk's Kurt Helin, via Yahoo! "He’s been my favorite teammate, I would love to see him back in a Lakers uniform so we could kind of finish out together.”

Somewhere Smush Parker is nodding his head in agreement while Pau Gasol curses the Mamba in Spanish. 

At the risk of offending Gasol, this is really no surprise. All five of Kobe's rings have come next to Fisher. The two entered the league together and were teammates for a combined 12 years. There has to be a sense of loyalty there.

But it's one the Lakers and Kobe must ignore.

Fisher is under contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder for next season. At 39, he's four years removed from the last time he shot 40 percent from the field and posted a PER above 10. Los Angeles has nothing to gain by bringing him back for a swan song at any point this year (via trade) or next.

Hollywood plans on chasing superstars in 2014, not veterans who are more than a half-decade past their prime. Fisher can't factor into the Lakers' plan to rebuild quickly. They'll have a difficult time convincing young guns to join a fading Kobe next summer; Fisher would be overkill. He's just too damn old.

One day soon we'll say the same of Kobe himself. That he's too old. That he doesn't have anything left to give.

If I were him I'd quit harping on the past, and focus on putting as much distance between himself and that "one day" as Kobe-ly possible.

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