For Lakers, Jamison's hunger joins Nash's hope
Opening night is Oct. 30 against the Dallas Mavericks, whose Dirk Nowitzki is losing all the championship hope that longtime pal Steve Nash now suddenly can revel in with the Lakers.
Christmas is at Staples Center against the other big-money-market marquee team, the New York Knicks.
Revenge-in-the-air showdowns await against the Western Conference favorite Thunder in Oklahoma City on Dec. 7 and March 5 and in Los Angeles on Jan. 11 and Jan. 27.
And possible NBA Finals previews loom against LeBron James on Jan. 17 at Staples and Feb. 10 to close the annually epic Grammy Awards trip (Phoenix-Minnesota-Detroit-Brooklyn-Boston-Charlotte-Miami this time).
The NBA schedule won't be released until Thursday evening, but those are the Lakers' schedule highlights and the sort of action Antawn Jamison signed up for Wednesday – showing a self-described "skeptical" Mitch Kupchak that players who'll take less money for the chance to play big games and contend for championships still exist.
As if Nash hadn't already sent that message on July 4.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we think we could get either player," said Kupchak, the Lakers' general manager, "and here we are today."
At least Nash had the added motivation of geographic proximity to his three kids, who live in Phoenix. Jamison has four kids in North Carolina and passed up the opportunity to sign for more money – but more losing – with his home-state Charlotte Bobcats. For his part, the uncrowned Nash passed up more money but more losing with his home-country Toronto Raptors.
"I've been through the bad," Jamison said. "Now it's time to be a part of things that really matter. I'm a competitor. I want to win."
Everyone talks about wanting to win. Hardly anyone, when it comes down to it, makes it the clear priority over money.
For Kupchak, Rick Fox and Karl Malone are the two men who jump to mind for doing that definitively in the Lakers' past. Fox trusted the Lakers were about to win and win big, and his entire winning reputation wound up shaped by that faith; Malone, though, went unrewarded for his sacrifice to come with Gary Payton to the Lakers in 2003-04.
The Lakers have the mini-mid-level salary-cap exception worth more than $3 million per season – what they gave to Josh McRoberts a year ago – but they wouldn't offer it to Jamison, trying to manage their league-high payroll. So Jamision is taking the $1.35 million minimum salary for player of at least 10 years' experience – a wage Kupchak thought was sort of an insult to a guy who still averaged 17 points last season.
"I didn't really think he was a possibility," Kupchak said.
Jamison could've continued to be a starter and go-to scorer with Charlotte. Instead, he gives what was a woeful Lakers bench last season the No. 44 scorer in NBA history.
"I've started a lot of games," Jamison said, smiling, "and lost a lot of games as well."
Most of those games had sparse crowds and no playoff ramifications. That's why Jamison, 36, said he's more excited for this season to start than any since he was a rookie.
"I can't tell you the last time I had a televised game," said Jamison, who lived through the post-LeBron apocalypse in Cleveland and spent most of a 14-year career with dead-end Golden State and Washington teams.
Playing on TV isn't just about glamour or fame; it satisfies a player's sense of significance, too. Jamison has done that complex math and concluded that 33 minutes a game in Cleveland or Charlotte is not greater than half that court time in the Lakers' spotlight – where there's extra pressure to perform.
As far as money goes, well ... Over the past 10 years Jamison has made $129 million – or $10 million more than Nash has made in his entire 16-year career.
"I've done a lot of things," Jamison said, "but the one thing that drives me is to have my name associated with being a champion."
He will wear the No. 4 Lakers jersey recently owned by Luke Walton and previously by Jamison's Cleveland coach, Byron Scott. Jamison wants to become part of that Lakers prestige. It's not unlike how a long-limbed forward who recently anchored the Lakers' bench felt about representing "the Yankees of basketball" and overturning the personal stigma that he was a loser.
Like Lamar Odom, Jamison is a candy addict off the court. Like Odom, Jamison will benefit tremendously on the court from opposing defenses having far greater personnel concerns.
"It's been a while since I've had some open shots," Jamison said.
So Jamison can't stop smiling as his first Lakers season nears. He has moved beyond the playoffs' first round only twice in his career – and both times stopped there.
Whatever the 2012-13 Lakers wind up being, this much is refreshing right now:
They already value winning and appreciate this championship window a lot more than the supposedly hungry-again 2011-12 Lakers.
"Maybe going through what I went through has set the stage for this situation," Jamison said.
. while everybody around us seems to be putting the pieces together that they need. i'd like to have dwight, but if we dont, ay dios mio its gonna be bad. bynum will have no motivation. pau will still be shooting 3s. kobe will be in permanent mamba mode. and steve nashs backup is steve blake. fantastic. oh and we have no defense. there were some great pieces out there that we missed. foye. rush. i wanted to get lamar back. the odom we have is terrible. i just want us to win again. but we got older and slower. with still no definitive offensive or defensive scheme 
