NBA teams report to training camps at this time every year with the same objective in mind: winning the title. But not everyone has the ability to achieve their goals as the Los Angeles Lakers did in 2008–09.
The Lakers hosted their media day for what would be their 15th championship season on September 29, 2008, at which time players including Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum addressed the local media about their aspirations to take home the trophy.
After being humiliated by the rival Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals the year before, that club had a mission from the beginning. It was obviously disappointing to lose Game 6 by 39 points and witness the Celtics win their 17th championship.
It all began on media day and preseason when Bryant made headlines by inspiring his teammate by hanging his Olympic gold medal in Gasol’s locker room. Bryant took on the responsibility of bringing Team USA back to Olympic gold in 2008 Beijing after losing to the Celtics, defeating Gasol and Spain in the Gold Medal match.
Bryant wanted to ensure that it didn’t happen again after Gasol lost two final games in a row, so he began from Day 1 to do so.
In order to secure the top seed in the Western Conference, the Lakers’ team under head coach Phil Jackson cruised through the regular season with a 65-17 record. Both Bryant and Gasol were All-Stars that year, with the former coming in second place behind LeBron James in the MVP voting. Gasol was chosen to the All-NBA Third Team, while Bryant received First Team All-NBA and First Team All-Defense honors.
The Lakers’ playoff challenges were not significantly worse as they defeated the Utah Jazz in five games in the first round and the Houston Rockets in six games in the second round. Bryant and Carmelo Anthony would play the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals as a result. 
This was supposed to be the year we got the Kobe-LeBron Finals battle, but the Celtics were battling with significant ailments that prevented them from defending their title. Ultimately though, that was never going to happen because Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic defeated LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals to set up a series for the championship against the Lakers.
In the Finals, Bryant was once more focused, guiding the Lakers to triumph in five games and winning his first Finals MVP award in his career. Additionally, Derek Fisher had some enormous buckets throughout that series.
The Lakers went on to win back-to-back titles, giving Kobe a total of five rings throughout the course of his storied 20-year career.