Derek Fisher hit some of the biggest shots in NBA playoff history.
Fifteen years after he teamed with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol to deliver another championship to Los Angeles, a 3-point specialist from Little Rock is still in awe of what his Lakers accomplished.
“Winning championships is kind of an example of when anyone is trying to do something really special together,” Fisher exclusively told talkSPORT at the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Europe camp in Manchester.
“You’re trying to build a community. You’re trying to do something that you cannot do alone — that you need other people for.
“And so when you think about guys like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol, they’re just some of the greatest players to ever play basketball.”
Kobe made lasting impact on D-Fish
Fisher, 51, played for five teams over 18 NBA seasons, averaging 8.3 points and 3 assists while shooting 37.4 percent beyond the arc.
He won five championship rings, all with the Lakers, and played in 1,108 combined regular and postseason games for the internationally famous purple and gold.
Bryant made a lasting impact on Fisher, who was selected by the Lakers with the No. 24 overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.
Black Mamba also won five rings with the Lakers, while making 18 All-Star teams and earning 15 All-NBA honors.
Bryant passed away in January 2020 in a helicopter crash.
“Kobe was not just in pushing himself in terms of his individual limits, but doing it in a way that inspired the rest of us to try and reach whatever our limits were,” Fisher said.
“And although our limits were quite different than his, we were still motivated by the way he approached the game, the way he loved it, the way he trained, how focused and committed he was to his craft.
“That’s how you inspire other people to be great at who they are. And it was never about trying to be him. He was never trying to force us to be something that we weren’t comfortable being.
“But you still had to show up and show your true love and passion for the game of basketball. And if you want to play it at the highest levels, that’s how it should be anyway, and that’s why we all loved him.”
Getting back in the game
Fisher is set to join another basketball legend for the 2025-26 season.
With NBC renewing its partnership with the NBA, the former Lakers sharpshooter is set to join Vince Carter, Reggie Miller, Mike Tirico and Noah Eagle on TV.
Brad Dougherty, Robbie Hummel, Austin Rivers, Brian Scalabrine, Grant Hill, Jamal Crawford, Carmelo Anthony and Maria Taylor have also been announced as part of NBA’s new basketball crew.
“NBA basketball is growing at such fast and high rate,” Fisher said.
D-Fish on WNBA
Derek Fisher on the WNBA's growth since he coached the Sparks:
“When I was coaching and working in the W, it really wasn’t as cool as it is now. It was really about love and passion for the game, passion for the women’s game. And you could feel that it needed and deserved more attention and and more growth.
“But it’s here now and so for whatever the reasons — whichever person or entity you want to put it on — I’m just glad that the ladies and especially now girls, representation is so important, to movements and to growth and success.
“And so for little girls all over the world now to see more of them on the screen — to see more girls and women that look like them, that are from where they’re from — having a chance to do what they love to do, that’s what drives and inspire entire communities and generations of people.”
“And how we consume our content, how we watch sports, how we watch television, that’s all changing and evolving as well. And so for NBC to be kind of an old partner but coming back in new, it’s a good time for a fresh approach to how you broadcast games, the personalities and voices that you use to broadcast those games and kind of try to continue bringing fans in from all around the world.”
A ‘special contributor’ best known as Michael Jordan is also now a new NBC teammate of Fisher’s.
“How much Michael Jordan does, I don’t think anybody necessarily knows,” Fisher said.
Spreading global reach of basketball
The five-time champ also played for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz, then coached the New York Knicks and WNBA‘s Los Angeles Sparks.
Fisher now coaches high school basketball in Encino, California, and completed a full life circle by returning to England for Basketball Without Borders.
“I’m grateful to be back,” Fisher said.
“Twelve years ago, I don’t know if I would have imagined where basketball would be globally and how much it’s grown.
“When we came to visit Manchester when I was a player in Oklahoma City, you could feel the newness and trying to get people connected to what the sport even is.
“But being back here now, you can feel the passion and the commitment to the game of basketball, and seeing young people with that passion and love is always fun for me.”