Derek Fisher 411:
Position Point guard
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight 205 lb (93 kg)
Born November August 9, 1974
Hometown: Little Rock, Arkansas
Team: LA Lakers
24th overall, 1996 Los Angeles Lakers

About Derick Fisher

Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9, 1974 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was with the Utah Jazz but asked to be released from his contract to care for his 10-month-old daughter, who has cancer.[1]

Fisher is a 1992 graduate of Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He was selected 24th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, and spent his first eight seasons with them. He averaged double digits in points in three different seasons (2000-01, 2001-02, and 2002-03) and won three consecutive NBA championships with the team. An underrated part of the supporting cast behind superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, Fisher made a vital contribution to the 2000-01 playoff run, which the Lakers stormed through with an NBA record 15-1 mark.

Fisher's finest playoff hour came in Game 5 of the 2003-04 Western Conference semi-finals between the Lakers and the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. With the series tied at two games apiece, Game 5 was a tight affair. Neither team was willing to give the other the lead in the series, and the Lakers wanted to avoid a Game 7. With 11 seconds remaining, Kobe Bryant hit a jump shot to put the Lakers up 72-71. The Spurs, needing last-minute heroics, thought they clinched the game when Tim Duncan made an 18-foot shot despite falling away from the basket. The Spurs led 73-72 with 0.4 seconds on the clock. After three time-outs, Gary Payton found Fisher, who managed to catch, turn, and shoot to hit the game winning shot. Fisher sprinted off the court because, he later admitted, he himself was not sure he had beat the buzzer and wanted to get off the floor before the play could be reviewed. The Spurs immediately filed a dispute regarding the shot anyway and, after reviewing video footage of the play, the referees concluded that the ball had indeed left Fisher's hand before the clock expired. The "0.4" basket counted and the Lakers had won. ABC analyst Doc Rivers repeatedly mentioned during the timeouts that that 1 tenth made all the difference in the world, and that with .3 seconds, they would have had to throw Shaq an ally-oop, or some sort of tip play.

Fisher was nicknamed "The Fish that Saved L.A" for the play and was credited with saving the championship run, as losing the game might have extended the series to seven games. The Lakers went on to close out the series in Game 6 to defeat the Spurs. They went on to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves to clinch the Western Conference championship, but were upset in the NBA Finals by the Detroit Pistons 4-1. That season ended Fisher first run with the Lakers.

Derek Fisher was acquired by the Utah Jazz on July 12, 2006 in a trade that sent Keith McLeod, Andre Owens, and Devin Brown to the Golden State Warriors. In February 2007, he was elected president of the NBA Players Association.

He had stated vaguely a few days before the beginning of the Conference Semifinals that one of his four children was ill, avoiding going into further detail on the serious aspect of it, other than to say he needed to be with his family instead of participating in the game on May 7th.

It was not until after Game two, during an on-court post game interview that Fisher went into more explicit detail on the grave situation involving 10-month-old daughter, Tatum. She had been diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a degenerative and rare form of eye cancer, which required an emergency three-hour surgery and chemotherapy at New York's Presbyterian Hospital.

Having no time for warm-ups or a shoot-around, Derek Fisher suited-up, made his way quickly to the court late in the third quarter, and was in receipt of a standing ovation, as well as embraces from his team members, including former team mate Baron Davis. He would then go on to score a critical three-pointer that would seal the victory for Utah.

On July 2, 2007, Fisher announced at a news conference with team owner Larry Miller that he was leaving the Jazz to devote his energies to fighting his daughter's illness. On July 19, 2007, he officially rejoined the Los Angeles Lakers by signing a 3-year contract worth roughly $14 million.