Among a large group of newcomers that came to the Los Angeles Lakers, there were a couple of familiar faces — players who wore purple and gold in the past. One of them is Trevor Ariza. The 36-year-old small forward played for the Lakers through 2008-2009.
During the media day, he was asked who had the most influence on his decision to come back to LA. “My son Tristan,” Ariza said. “After I started getting traded a bunch, their station was going to be here at home. He got tired of me being elsewhere, he wanted me to be home. Outside of basketball he was the biggest influence.
“But the Lakers speak for themselves. This is a franchise that is tied for the most championships in the game. Everybody wants to put this jersey on in my belief. But Russ [Westbrook] as soon as he got traded, he’s on my phone, like, ‘What’s up man, I need to talk to you.’ and I’m like ‘What he f*ck you want to talk to me about?’ But yeah Russ is my dog. We stayed in constant communication. So probably Russ.”
