Derek Fisher Helping Chances of Staying With Lakers Next Season

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- One day this summer, Derek Fisher might need to stop by Kinko's and make all those decisions. What type of font does he want on his resumé? What tint of paper?

Or maybe not.

The Los Angeles Lakers point guard will be a free agent this summer. But he wants to stay where he is, and not have to send out any resumés.

Talking to Fisher, you get the idea the chances are a lot higher he'll be back if the Lakers win a second straight NBA crown.

"I want to play until I can't," Fisher, 35, whose Lakers open the Western Conference finals Monday against Phoenix, said in an interview with FanHouse after practice Sunday. "Obviously, I'm hopeful that I'll be here because I love being here. I've played 11 of my 14 years here. I know this better than anybody else. But obviously a lot of (whether Fisher returns) rides on whether Phil (Jackson, the Lakers coach) is back and how we finish the season.

"If we win a championship, it's all good. If we don't, obviously we got to throw out everything and start over and get new guys. So I'm really just trying to stay on the path and realize that I can still play a lot of good basketball."



Share He's doing just that in the playoffs, which is certainly helping Fisher's chances of a return engagement with the Lakers. In 10 games, Fisher is averaging 10.6 points while shooting 44.6 percent, including an impressive 42.2 percent from three-point range.

Fisher, making $5.05 million in the final year of a three-year deal, is scoring more than he has during any playoffs since 2003-04 and his average of 3.2 assists is on pace to be his best in the postseason since 1998-99. He's also helping vanquish memories of a trying playoffs last spring when many believed Fisher was ready for the dryer (read: washed up).

Fisher did salvage his postseason by having a strong Finals against Orlando. The Lakers won, and it was indeed all good.

"Last year, I think the suspension kind of threw my first couple rounds off," said Fisher, who was suspended for Game 3 of the second round against Houston for throwing a wicked elbow at Luis Scola in Game 2. "It was a just a weird experience missing a game. ... It was a weird week to 10 days right in there where it was just a bit off kilter."

Actually, Fisher's slump lasted longer than that. In the final four games of the Houston series and the six games against Denver in the West finals, Fisher averaged just 5.4 points and shot a disastrous 21 of 69 (30.4 percent), including 6 of 28 from 3-point range (21.4 percent).

Fisher did bounce back to shoot well and average 11.0 in the five Finals games against the Magic. But during this past regular season more questions surfaced about how much Fisher has left. He averaged 7.5 points, his lowest output in six years, while shooting just 38.0 percent.


Fisher said one reason he's elevated his game in the playoffs is he's getting more minutes (34.1 compared to 27.2 per game in the regular season), and he believes that's helped him get in a groove. But, for anybody who wonders if Fisher is getting close to the end, he says hearing negatives is nothing new.

"It's always kind of been that way for me," said Fisher, a late first-round pick in 1996 who won titles with the Lakers in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and who returned to the team for the 2007-08 season after a three-year absence. "Always. And it's been, I think, a big part of my success over the course of my career. Even playing AAU basketball as a teenager, high school, in college, at every level there's always been individuals or groups or a coach here or a teammate here that wanted to put me in my place or keep me somewhere else.

"So it's been part of my success because I felt a sense of pride in being a part of the success that I have been able to be a part of with the teams I've been on. I realize my willingness to not always focus on myself individually (helps). ... If I'm willing to invest in a team that allows us to be successful, then I'll ultimately receive the gratification or satisfaction that I deserve."

Fisher has gotten plenty of plaudits in these playoffs. Battling up-and-coming Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook in the first round and Utah's Deron Williams, perhaps the NBA's best point guard, in the second round, Fisher has scored in double figures in seven of 10 games. He put up 20 points in a pivotal 111-110 Game 3 win over the Jazz, a victory that led to a 4-0 sweep and the Lakers getting some much-needed rest before facing Phoenix.

"Obviously, he's playing really well," said Lakers forward Pau Gasol. "He's hitting big shots as usual and making big plays defensively. He's doing a great job. He's also playing more minutes so he's holding up real well, and we want him to sustain that kind of level for the remainder of the playoffs."

Now, Fisher meets Steve Nash of the Suns, who also gets some support for being the NBA's top point guard. And it's possible in the Finals he could run into Boston's Rajon Rando, yet another in the conversation for league's best.

But one series at a time. Nash is 36, so at least that eliminates one thing Fisher might hear.

"If he's killing me, it won't be about the age," Fisher joked to reporters. "Some other thing that everybody can say, 'Why's he killing me? It's not his age.'"

Fisher's age hasn't come up much in this postseason even while battling Westbrook, 21, and Williams, 25. Fisher was asked if he believes his recent strong play will help his chances of returning next season to the Lakers.

"I hope so," he said. "But, what I've done up until now, if these next two rounds don't go a certain way, it's all out the window. And then all of sudden, you're like, 'Oh, God, he can't play anymore.'"

So far, though, there's been no indication Fisher will need to be sending out resumés this summer.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson.