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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 4, 2001

Lakers plan return to Isles

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Lakers are planning to start their run at an NBA three-peat here this fall.

Point guard Kobe Bryant made his Los Angeles Lakers debut in Hawai'i. Now the team wants to come back here for its preseason camp.

Associated Press library photo • June 8, 2001

General manager Mitch Kupchak said the back-to-back NBA champions want to hold their preseason camp in Honolulu and play at least one exhibition game in returning after a four-year absence.

"We're planning on it," Kupchak said. "At this point we're further along in our plans to conduct a training camp in Hawai'i and are hopeful we can announce a preseason game sometime in the near future."

The team is trying to finalize a deal that would have it arrive here in late September and train here for about 10 days on the University of Hawai'i campus.

According to people involved in the deal, the Lakers would play the Golden State Warriors in early October, possibly late afternoon on Sunday, Oct. 7, at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Plans call for Golden State to train here for four days, according to a Warriors' spokesman.

The stopover will come on the way to Japan, where the teams play Oct. 13 and 14 games at the Tokyo Dome.

The Lakers' stop here would be their ninth since 1988. They appeared here every preseason but one between 1988 and '96, usually holding their training camp as well. In the process, this was where Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant debuted as Lakers, and Magic Johnson made the first of his comebacks.

The absence in 1991 was due to a league-sponsored exhibition tour of France. The Lakers had planned a biennial trip to Hawai'i after 1997, but '98 was canceled by the league's lockout. Last year the Lakers stayed home to open their new multi-million dollar El Segundo, Calif., training facility.

An announcement on ticket sales is expected before the end of the month.