2001 Los Angeles Lakers: Where Are They Now?

Before the 1999-00 season, the Los Angeles Lakers had not been champions for a decade. The city of Los Angeles was getting hungry since its days of running the 80s with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy. The 2000 Finals saw the Lakers win their first championship since the Showtime Era. Heading into the 2000-01 season, the team was the top dog and remained that way for this year. The Lakers won 56 games, won the Pacific Division, and became the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers won their second title with a 4-1 series win over the New Jersey Nets and Shaquille O’Neal captured his second straight Finals MVP.

According to the stats, there were 15 players that received credit for the team’s success, while 12 of those players made an entry in the playoff stats. It’s been over two decades since this team captured their title, and they are off to the next chapter of their lives. Many of them remain in the NBA in other roles, while others are living their lives in different ways. Where are the 2001 Lakers now? Let’s look at that now.

This is what the 2001 Lakers are up to these days.

Slava Medvedenko (Politician)

The former Ukrainian ball player played in seven games for the Lakers. He averaged 5.6 minutes when he played and 4.6 points per game. He did not make an appearance for the Lakers in the playoffs but was rewarded a ring for his participation in the regular season.

After the NBA, Medvedenko was a candidate for the Kyiv City Council for the Voice party in the 2020 Kyiv local election. He did not win. He later auctioned off both of his NBA championship rings to raise money for the Ukrainian military. Both his wife and himself served in the military during the Russian war against Ukraine.

Greg Foster (NBA Coach)

Foster spent many years in the league and averaged 3.9 points and 2.6 rebounds. He was a 6-foot-11 power forward that played in three NBA Finals in his career. During this season, he made eight starts and averaged 2.90 points and 1.8 rebounds. Foster did not make an appearance in the playoffs.

After basketball, Foster got into coaching. Ten years after playing in the league, he joined the University of Texas-El Paso as an assistant coach. Then, he became an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers from 2013 to 2014. After that, he spent time with the Bucks from 2014 to 2018. From 2018 to 2020, he was an assistant for the Hawks. Then, he spent 2020 to 2021 as an assistant for the Pacers.

Mark Madsen (NBA Coach)

Madsen was a former first-round pick by the Lakers, No. 29 in 2000. In his rookie season, he won a championship as a reserve. He was often seen doing fun dances on the championship parades. He was also tasked with guarding Shaquille O’Neal during practice. Madsen averaged 0.4 points in 13 appearances during the season.

After leaving basketball in 2009, he immediately got into coaching. He joined the Utah Flash as an assistant from 2009 to 2010. Then, he went to Stanford from 2012 to 2013. After a brief stint with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, he was promoted to assistant coach, a role that Madsen held from 2013 to 2019. In the summer of 2019, Madsen was hired as the head coach of Utah Valley. In 2020-21, the team won the Western Athletic Conference championship. Madsen owns a career 43-43 record.

Devean George (Developer)

A former first-round pick in 1999, George showed his best season in 2001-02. He was a part of all three championship teams. What made him stand out was his outside shooting, defense, and hustle. Those attributes helped him work into the rotation as a sub behind Rick Fox. George averaged 3.1 points in 10.1 minutes during the regular season.

After basketball, George submitted a proposal about an affordable apartment project in Minneapolis. George has developed two projects in the areas where he grew up. He made news this year when his proposed modular housing manufacturing facility in the north loop of Minneapolis was approved.

Tyronn Lue (NBA Coach)

Lue is often remembered as the player that was stepped over by Allen Iverson in the 2001 NBA Finals. With that said, his quickness was considered a strength to keep him in the rotation. Lue made an appearance in each Finals game. During the regular season, he averaged 3.4 points in 12.3 minutes.

After leaving the league in 2009, he joined the coaching world as an assistant coach in 2011 for the Celtics. He spent time learning under Doc Rivers and spent some time with the Clippers before joining the Cavaliers as an associate head coach in 2014. When Cleveland fired David Blatt midseason in 2015-2016, Lue took over and led the team to the 2016 championship. He stayed with Cleveland until 2018 before joining the Clippers as an assistant in 2019. He is now the head coach of the team.

Mike Penberthy (NBA Coach)

Penberthy’s career is all Lakers, as a player and a coach. He played 56 games in the NBA, and all came with the Lakers. He averaged 4.9 points, 1.3 assists, and 1.2 rebounds in 15.2 minutes of action. Penberthy did not make an appearance in the playoffs but received credit for a championship.

His last professional basketball season came in 2012. He joined the coaching world in 2018 as an assistant for the Pelicans. From 2019 to 2022, Penberthy served as an assistant coach to Frank Vogel and was a part of the team’s 2020 championship run.

Isaiah Rider (Activist)

Rider played in 67 games and led all bench players with 7.6 points per game. However, he was left off of the postseason roster in favor of Tyronn Lue. He was suspended during the regular season for failing to comply with the NBA’s drug policy. Rider was awarded an NBA championship ring for his contributions during the regular season.

After being a troubled player, Rider has turned his life around. He established the Sky Rider Foundations, which trains and mentors youth basketball players in Phoenix, Arizona. Rider wanted to help underprivileged kids.

Robert Horry (Media)

“Big Shot Bob” was a reserve behind Horace Grant, but he played big minutes in the playoffs. He played in 16 playoff games. In the Finals, he averaged 5.9 points per game. In Game 3, he scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, including a clutch three-point shot with 47 seconds left.

Horry isn’t necessarily someone in the media, but he is involved in many interviews. He keeps up with the league and talks to numerous news outlets and radio stations. Horry is active in the AAU world, where he coached AAU Big Shot in Los Angeles.

Brian Shaw (NBA Coach)

Shaw’s playing career was best remembered when he played with the Lakers later on in his career. Shaw served as the primary backup to Kobe Bryant. Shaw played in every playoff game and made 28 starts in the regular season. He averaged 5.3 points and 3.8 rebounds during the regular season.

After leaving the league in 2003, he spent a long time coaching his career. Shaw joined the Lakers in 2005 as an assistant coach. Shaw was a top assistant to Phil Jackson during the team’s championship runs in 2009 and 2010. He left the Lakers in 2011 to join the Pacers, where he stayed until 2013 as an associate head coach. His first head coaching gig was with the Nuggets in 2013. Shaw went 36-46 in his first season but was fired midway through his second season when the team was 20-39. Shaw went back to the Lakers from 2016 to 2019 as an associate head coach. After a brief stint with the NBA G League Ignite, Shaw returned to the NBA as an assistant coach for the Clippers.

Ron Harper (Father)

Harper joined the Lakers to reunite with Phil Jackson during the 1999-00 season. Due to injuries, he appeared in 47 games but was one of the team’s starting guards. By the end of the season, Derek Fisher took his starting spot. Harper would return for the playoffs but play in six games total. His best game came in Game 4 of the NBA Finals when he scored eight points.

What Harper does exactly these days is not all that public, but you can see him in the public at plenty of basketball games. His son Ron Harper Jr. was an All-Big Ten player at Rutgers. The 22-year-old went undrafted in 2022 but was signed by the Toronto Raptors on a two-way contract where he sometimes plays for the Raptors 905. Harper Sr. can be seen watching his son’s games.

Rick Fox (Actor)

After Glen Rice left the Lakers, Fox was inserted as a starter for the Lakers. He made 77 starts in 72 games during the season and averaged 9.6 points. That included shooting 39% from three-point range. Fox’s best game was in Game 5, when he scored 20 points to help the Lakers clinch the championship.

Since 2005, Fox has been involved in acting. His roles include acting and producing. In 2015, he was a part of six movies. His last movie was A Twist of Christmas in 2018. As for television, his biggest role was from 2007 to 2013 in The Game, when he was a part of 26 episodes. His last television role was in All Rise, where he served in a recurring role for three episodes in 2021.

Horace Grant (NBA Ambassador)

Grant was involved in a three-way trade that involved Glen Rice going to New York and Patrick Ewing going to Seattle. Reunited with his coach Phil Jackson, Grant tied Rick Fox for the most starts (77) on the team. Grant would also start all 16 games in the playoffs and play big-time minutes to help the Lakers clinch the title. Grant averaged 8.5 points and 7.1 rebounds in the regular season, as well as 6.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in the playoffs.

Nowadays, Grant hangs around the NBA. Like Horry, he is brought onto multiple shows and talks about the NBA. He will be noticed at games. On his Instagram page, he is helping raise money for Rise and Achieve Youth Sports, which is a new central coach training facility in California.

Derek Fisher (Basketball Coach)

Fisher was ready for the moment. Fisher started in all 16 games during the playoffs as Harper was struggling to get back to form after suffering his injury. His 13.4 points per game in the playoffs was the third-best among his teammates. Fisher led the team in three-point shooting in the playoffs by shooting 51.5% from three-point range. In the regular season, his defense was equally impressive, as he led the team with 1.9 steals per game

It didn’t take long for Fisher to get his first head coaching gig after basketball. When he retired in 2014, he was immediately hired as the head coach of the New York Knicks. The team went 17-65 in his first season. Then, he was fired after a 23-31 start to the 205-16 season. After some time off, he was hired as the coach of the Los Angeles Sparks. He led the team to the Conference Finals in 2019. The team returned to the playoffs in 2020 but lost in the second round. In 2021, the team went 12-20 and missed the playoffs, and then he was fired 12 games into the 2022 season after a 5-7 start.

Kobe Bryant (Passed Away)

In the regular season, Bryant led the team with 40.9 minutes per game and nearly beat out Shaq for the most points per game with 28.5. His 5.0 assists were the most on the team as well. In the playoffs, he turned it on to average a team-leading 43.4 minutes per game and 6.1 assists with 29.4 points. Altogether. Bryant had so many moments in the playoffs, including 48 points and 16 rebounds in a series-clinching win over the Kings to even make the NBA Finals.

Bryant finished out his basketball career in 2016 with the Lakers. He enjoyed success away from the court after his retirement. That included becoming the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He launched a television series and was focused on his family, including the development of girls’ basketball teams. Bryant was taken from the world too early when he was among nine people that died in a helicopter crash in January 2020. 

Shaquille O’Neal (NBA Analyst)

O’Neal was coming off winning the 2000 MVP and was seen as the face of the league. He kept up with the trademark by helping the Lakers win their second championship. In the regular season, O’Neal averaged 28.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks during the regular season. In the playoffs, he won his second Finals MVP Award when he averaged 33.0 points, 15.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in those five games.

O’Neal has been a member of Turner Network Television as an analyst since 2011, joining Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley. The crew has been nominated and has won Emmy awards for their show Inside the NBA. The banter between O’Neal and Barkley has been seen as one of the staples of the show. O’Neal has also been an active businessman and investor. He has made major investments in General Electric, Apple, PepsiCo, NRG Esports, and the technology startup Loyale 3 Holdings Inc. He eventually bought a share of the Sacramento Kings in 2014 but sold his share in January 2022. He was the spokesperson for Krispy Kreme in 2016 and joined the board of directors for Papa John’s in 2019.

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