Regarding the biggest regret in the NBA, it must be the sudden death of Kobe Bryant, who once played for the Lakers, due to a helicopter accident at the beginning of 2020.
Kobe's life was brilliant and dazzling. Whether in his career or family life, he was very enviable. It was just a matter of luck that led to such a tragic outcome.
However, Derek Fisher, who entered the NBA at the same time as Kobe, seems to have had luck completely opposite to Kobe's. Although he also experienced many ups and downs in his career and family life, like Kobe, he has five NBA Finals championship rings. In terms of family status, he is similar to Kobe, with a beautiful wife and lovely children. However, in terms of emotional life, he made an extremely outrageous move by "playing with a friend's wife."
In the 1996 NBA draft, Fisher and Kobe emerged together. Kobe ranked 13th in the draft that year, while Fisher's performance was slightly inferior, being selected by the Lakers with the 24th pick, thus starting his professional career.
He was incredibly lucky. Between 1999 and 2008, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals and won the championship five times, and Fisher participated in these five Finals, earning him five championship rings.
However, during these ten years, Fisher did not always play for the Lakers. Coincidentally, in the years when the Lakers failed to win the championship, he was traded away by the Lakers through exchanges, playing for league teams such as the Warriors, Mavericks, and Rockets.
It was quite coincidental that in the year before the Lakers won each championship, Fisher would choose to return to the Lakers on his own.
It must be acknowledged that Fisher was truly favored by luck in his career. Some people go through more than ten years of their careers and may not even reach the top three in the playoffs, yet Fisher achieved the feat of winning the championship five times.
Of course, aside from luck, Fisher's basketball skills are worthy of recognition; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to participate in the Lakers' games multiple times. However, in that era dominated by centers, as a point guard, Fisher found it hard to stand out.
In 2014, Fisher chose to retire. Being deeply passionate about basketball, he naturally found it difficult to accept leaving the court. Later, he became a team coach, and it was during this period that Fisher's emotional life became turbulent.
Fisher had already started a family at that time, with four children under his care. Although retired, the wealth he earned from his career allowed his entire family to live a comfortable life, and he had just transitioned into coaching, securing a contract worth $25 million.
At this time, he met someone he shouldn't have met at this moment, and his future trajectory changed because of this person. This person was named Gloria. However, at this time, both Gloria and Fisher had their own families, and Gloria's husband was a colleague of Fisher.
Gloria's husband is Matt Barnes, and Fisher has known him for over ten years. Moreover, Matt Barnes debuted only two years after Fisher.
In 2002, Matt began his professional league journey. Initially, he joined the Grizzlies, but his subsequent experience was quite bumpy. In that era of star-studded players, Matt's performance was unsatisfactory, and he was cut soon after. Unwilling to say goodbye to the court, he later competed among multiple teams as a "free agent."
During that period, he got to know Fisher, and in a very short period, the two participated in training and games together. At that time, both of them had stable emotional situations, and they married their respective girlfriends, with Matt's wife being Gloria.
After Fisher married, he soon had four children. At that time, he was a man who loved both his family and his career. In 2007, his daughter developed an eye disease, so he moved his whole family back to Los Angeles, where the Lakers were based, to give his daughter more treatment opportunities, and then played for the Lakers again.
Matt's relationship with his wife Gloria was also very sweet, and soon they had twin sons. At this point, whether it was Fisher or Matt, their family lives were very happy and fulfilling, and their relationship was like ordinary colleagues, just acquaintances, not very familiar.
However, the relationship between these two people quickly deteriorated later, to the extent that police intervention was needed. On a certain day in 2017, at Matt's request, the two hadn't seen each other for a long time and met. As soon as they met, Matt punched Fisher hard and questioned him about what he and his wife had done behind his back.
No one expected that Fisher had actually cheated, and the object of his infidelity was none other than Matt's wife, Gloria, which was unbearable for Matt, so he chose to express his anger towards Fisher in a manly way.
With the help of friends, the two eventually parted ways. For Matt, this was undoubtedly a solid green hat. Soon, news of the two cheating and falling in love spread throughout the circle. Whether it was NBA players or ordinary fans, they all watched this scandal of a player cheating on his colleague's wife with a nonchalant attitude.
Naturally, Matt's situation was very awkward. No matter how you look at it, he was the one who deserved sympathy. Just when everyone thought this love triangle would become uncontrollable, Fisher and Matt both calmed down, confusing the public about their attitudes.
When many media outlets and busybodies inquired about the situation, both of them refused to respond, citing the need to protect their families and children. Everyone speculated that perhaps the two had reached a reconciliation agreement in private, but as for how the "hatred of taking one's wife" was reconciled, although everyone was very curious, they were helpless, and no further information came out.
Everyone originally thought that this matter had calmed down, but a few years later, everyone saw the final outcome of this incident again. In 2021, Fisher, who was already a coach at that time, suddenly announced that he had divorced and was about to remarry.
And the person he was remarrying was none other than Matt's ex-wife, Gloria! At the same time, there were news reports that Gloria had divorced Matt a few years ago.
After divorcing their respective spouses, the two went through several years of integration and publicly announced that they were back together. It seems that the former gossip protagonists have now achieved a happy ending.
Even more unexpectedly, Matt, who is already Gloria's ex-husband, actually sent his blessings to the two who were about to remarry, making those who enjoy watching the fun even more curious.
Initially, the two had reached divorce agreements with their respective partners before the divorce, forming agreements on property distribution and child custody issues. Why Matt was so generous in sending his blessings remains unknown.
Compared to Matt, Fisher's ex-wife has not expressed any opinions on Fisher's marriage to Gloria. Thus, Fisher and Gloria held their wedding in July 2021 and officially became husband and wife.
Fisher was already in his fifties at that time. In terms of his career, he had been a coach for six years. However, the teams he coached seemed to have less-than-ideal results. In the six years of his coaching career, he changed three teams but never achieved remarkable results.
As of 2023, Fisher has once again lowered his "level," no longer serving as a coach for professional teams but becoming a high school basketball coach. Looking back now, it seems that the god of luck has always favored Fisher's career and emotional life.
References:
Sina Sports reported on July 20, 2021, that Fisher married his former teammate's ex-wife! They had already been engaged since 2018.