It’s been quite the emotional week for the Los Angeles Lakers family following the death of owner Dr. Jerry Buss.

Returning to the court for the first time since his death on Monday, the Lakers paid tribute to Buss prior to Wednesday’s game vs. the Boston Celtics.

The NBA scheduling Gods delivered as the Lakers-Celtics game was on ESPN, which meant Magic Johnson was able to reflect throughout the night on the impact Buss had on his life in the 30-plus years since he was drafted from Michigan State.

To Johnson, Buss was not just an owner. He was a friend and mentor who Johnson would routinely call for advice. You can truly get the sense how important Buss was to Johnson by his reaction following Kobe Bryant‘s speech to the crowd.

Metta World Peace was in a cheery mood following the Lakers’ 113-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night, but that didn’t stop him from jokingly taking shots at the local media.

From Mark Medina‘s Inside the Lakers blog:

“I blame the media,” World Peace said. “Let’s talk. I blame you guys. First off, you have low expectations for us. You’re trying to get a great quote.”

He then stands up mocking his a reporter’s voice. “Your defense was GREAT TONIGHT!!”

“Ok? It’s supposed to be against five rookies that don’t know how to play the game,” World Peace said. “They see Kobe and they’re just excited to be in Staples Center. They partied last night. And we’re supposed to win.”

“I blame you guys for the low expectations,” World Peace continued. “Then I blame you guys for not promoting the team. Too many times, you talk about great players and then a team comes in here and beats us because you don’t promote team.”

The media wouldn’t have such low expectations if the Lakers actually lived up to the expectations that Kobe and Co. set when the team acquired Dwight Howard in the offseason.

Something tells me World Peace’s tone won’t be as jovial if the Lakers are still under .500 a month from now.

[H/T NBC4 for the video]

The antisocial has become social #mambatweets

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 4, 2013

Well, well, well.

Look who decided to rejoin Twitter finally.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has finally caved in and joined the social media platform again. A source close to Bryant confirmed to Mark Medina of the Daily News that the account was legit and No. 24 was the man behind it.

Medina also points out that Bryant was on the ropes about returning to Twitter as recently as last week:

“Maybe,” Bryant said on Dec. 30. “The one thing about me is when I’m doing it, I enjoy doing it myself and putting the time into it. I don’t know if I have the time available to give the fans the attention they deserve.”

Bryant’s first time on Twitter was in September 2011 before suspending his account shortly thereafter.

He’s baaaaack.

With Jim Mora Jr. preparing for UCLA’s bowl game, Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers took his act on the road and was in the face of Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni following their 100-94 loss on Tuesday to the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers.

Simers questioned D’Antoni about the team’s defensive work, and well, that didn’t sit to well with the man leading a Lakers team that looks absolutely dreadful.

Fair question at this point in the season when a team filled with superstars is 9-13 and are slowly sliding in the Western Conference standings.

If Simers traveled to wonderful Cleveland, you have to imagine he will be making the trip to New York when the Knicks host the Lakers on Thursday night.

For D’Antoni’s sake, I hope they find a way to pull off the upset.

You can cross Cox Communications off the list as the cable provider have agreed to terms with Time Warner Cable to carry SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes.

“Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes and Cox Communications have agreed to terms,” the networked announced in a statement on Sunday night. “Launch details will be announced shortly.”

That leaves just DirecTV and Dish as the two lone holdouts. Considering DirecTV still hasn’t signed up for Pac-12 Networks, it makes you wonder how long this standoff will last.

Based on the 1-3 Los Angeles Lakers record, fans aren’t missing anything as of yet.

Charter Communications and Verizon FIOS reached an agreement with Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes on Friday afternoon, adding two more cable providers that will be able to watch the Los Angeles Lakers starting next week.

Charter is trying to launch TWC SportsNet on or before Oct. 31 and will be available in SD on channel 215 and in HD on channel 787; Time Warner Cable Deportes will be available on SD channel 216 and HD channel 788.

“Charter is committed to bring programming to our customers that mirror their interests,” said Allan Singer, Charter’s senior vice president of programming. “We are proud of Charter’s robust selection of sports programming.  Charter is the first provider of this brand new programming in our service areas, and we know that the addition of these networks especially pleases our customers in Southern California.”

It might be time to start making alternative plans to watch the Los Angeles Lakers next week if you don’t have Time Warner Cable.

The cable provider fired a shot on Wednesday as to why they’ve been unable to reach a deal with their competition after rejecting a proposal from Cox Cable:

“With the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles Sparks, two networks and unprecedented behind-the-scenes programming, Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes are delivering tremendous value for Southern California sports fans. Any assertion that we are the highest priced regional sports outlet in the country is simply untrue; as a significant buyer of regional sports across the country, we know that there are higher priced regional sports networks, including Root Sports that we buy from DirecTV. Cox and DirecTV know that there is no regional sports network anywhere in the country that is offered on an optional tier — that would be unprecedented. If Cox or DirecTV choose not to carry our networks, we and their customers will be very disappointed but we are confident there will be other alternatives for their customers to see this highly-anticipated Lakers season.”

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Notice who’s missing from this cover?

Get used to seeing less of Kobe Bryant and more of the Los Angeles Lakers’ two newest stars in Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.

Nash and Howard are on the cover of the Sports Illustrated NBA preview issue, which hits newsstands on Wednesday.

In the issue, Howard tells Lee Jenkins about the first time he had an alcoholic beverage:

On the night of Aug. 10, when Howard was dealt to the Lakers, he went to dinner at Mastro’s in Beverly Hills, and a large group of strangers invited him to their private room. “They said, ‘Dwight, we want to welcome you to L.A. and make a toast to you and your new journey here,’ ” Howard recalls. “I told them, ‘Thank you, but I don’t drink, I’ve never had a drink before.’ And then I thought about it, and I was like, You know what, I think this deserves a drink.” He clinked glasses and lifted one to his lips.

That is likely the first of many toasts in honor of Howard if the Lakers can bring home another NBA championship.

The Los Angeles Lakers opened the 2012-13 preseason on Sunday night and unless you have Time Warner Cable, you were out of luck.

A week after Time Warner Cable SportsNet launched, it has yet to secure deals with DirecTV, Dish, AT&T and Verizon, leaving many Southern California residents without their Lakers.

Unlike the dispute between the Pac-12 Network and DirecTV, there will be serious backlash if Time Warner doesn’t start coming to terms with the other local cable providers by Opening Night on Oct. 30.

“We expect that Time Warner will reach deals with other TV providers in the near future, but I cannot give you an estimate on when,” Lakers spokesman John Black told NBC4 in an email.

Monday marked media day for a majority of the teams in the NBA, including the Los Angeles Lakers.

The team’s two biggest offseason acquisitions, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, officially donned the gold jerseys for the first time at the team’s training facility in El Segundo.

And in case you’re wondering who’s the alpha male on the court with all the new additions, it’s still Kobe.

“I think this is Kobe’s team,” Nash told ESPNLA.com. “For the media’s perspective, this is Kobe’s team. But anyone who’s ever played on a basketball team, it’s also our team. The team needs to share in that responsibility. Kobe can’t do everything. He’s going to be great at what he’s great at, and the rest of us got to pick up the pieces that get to us. This is undoubtedly Kobe’s team. He’s been here his whole career. He’s won championships. And he’s the best player on the team. We got to be there for him every day, so it’s essentially our team as well.”

Sorry, Dwight.