Derek Fisher was involved in several controversies on and off the court. Nevertheless, the Utah Jazz situation in 2007 was one of the most head-scratching scenarios in the history of the NBA. This also dented Fisher's class-act reputation, especially in the eyes of Jazz fans.
From the outside, it appeared the Little Rock, Arkansas native maneuvered his way out of Salt Lake City and used his daughter's sensitive medical situation as an excuse. D-Fish's daughter, Tatum, was treated by her doctors in New York for a rare form of eye cancer. Besides, Utah has one of the best cancer institutes in the nation. It was a mystery why the five-time champ was adamant about going to Los Angeles.
D-Fish cleared the air
At Byron Scott's Fast Break, the five-time NBA champion clarified what went down with the Jazz and how the negotiations were in 2007. There were three years left on Fisher's contract, but Larry Miller, the owner, allowed him to go back to Los Angeles. However, that also took a heavy sacrifice on Derek's part.
According to the retired guard, the choices were narrowed down to five cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Memphis, and another one he couldn't remember. While Utah has excellent hospitals and facilities, it couldn't accommodate the specific type of care her daughter needs.
"Initially, there was conversations around trying to work a trade to one of the teams in those five cities. Initially, I was open to that idea, but we were also working on a short clock here. At that time, we didn't know if my daughter would make it past a certain point, depending on surgeries and how things were gonna go. It's not like we had a whole offseason to figure it out," explained Fisher.
Fisher said Danny Ainge put together quite a presentation to convince him to go to Boston. Moreover, St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis reached out and let the family know they could take care of Tatum there. But then, it was a matter of logistics in the end.
"So, when it came to moving back to LA, my wife at the time was from LA," added Derek. "Our family unit and network, grandparents, and aunts, and uncles, and the people that she would need if I was working, they were here. The decision to move to LA was made, didn't matter if I was playing basketball or not, we're moving back to LA."
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The Larry Miller conversation
As the Jazz worked on a trade to any of these five destinations, Fisher let Miller know the family was moving back to Tinseltown.
"The conversation with Larry Miller was, 'Look, if it's not LA, I'm not going.' So, I agreed to a zero-dollar buyout. I had three years, $21 million remaining on my contract. In order for us to move back to LA, y'all can have back, bro… The money is not the issue here; it's about the city and the care," Fisher clarified.
The 1996 first-round pick was immediately released from his contract. He talked to the Clippers and Lakers , but Fish insisted his future was still up in the air as soon as they moved back.
"It all came together with the Lakers a month or so later, but that wasn't the original decision. The original decision to move to back to LA, period. Point blank. And then, we'll figure the rest out from there," the lefty veteran guard concluded.
Was it simply an excuse?
From a pure basketball perspective, the Jazz had a better outlook than the Lakers at that point. Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur went to the Western Conference Finals in 2007. The Lakers were still a mess at that point, relying on an up-and-coming Andrew Bynum to be an X-Factor.
Naturally, the Pau Gasol trade in February 2008 transformed the franchise's trajectory, though no one could have predicted that months earlier. Moreover, implying that Fisher used his daughter's cancer as an excuse to break his contract is deeply unfair.
Nevertheless, Fisher's decision to move to LA was a resounding success. Tatum is now 15 and living her best life. D-Fish added two more championships to his resumè and played until he was 39.
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