Derek Fisher

Derek Fisher is a former professional basketball coach and former player. Fisher played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 18 seasons, spending the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he won five championships. He also played for the Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Dallas Mavericks. Fisher was the all-time NBA record holder in playoff games played until he was passed by LeBron James in 2020.

Fisher played college basketball for the Arkansas–Little Rock Trojans, earning the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 1996. Selected by the Lakers with the 24th pick in the 1996 NBA draft, he spent his first eight seasons with the franchise, winning three consecutive league championships (2000–2002) with teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal and coach Phil Jackson. After the 2003–2004 NBA season, he signed as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors, later being traded to the Utah Jazz, whom he helped lead to the Western Conference finals. Due to his daughter's health, he asked to be released from his contract in 2007. He rejoined the Lakers and won two more NBA titles with Bryant and Jackson.

In 2012, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he bought out his contract and was waived at his request. He then joined the Oklahoma City Thunder for the remainder of the season, playing for the 2012 NBA championship in his eighth Finals appearance. After signing with the 2012–13 Dallas Mavericks, he played just nine games before being injured and asked to be released from his contract. He later rejoined the Oklahoma City Thunder for another late-season push. He re-signed with them in the off-season and played in a team-high 81 regular-season games for the team in 2013–2014.

The following season, Fisher was hired as the head coach of the New York Knicks by Jackson, who had become the team's president. He was fired in 2016, and has since been featured as a broadcast television analyst on Turner Sports' NBA programming and Spectrum SportsNet. He is a former head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 2019 to 2022. He has also served as president of the National Basketball Players Association.