Basic Data:

Complete Name: Derek Lamar Fisher

Position: Point Guard

Nickname: Fish

Born: August 9, 1974 in Little Rock, Arkansas

Height: 6-1 / 1,85 m.

Weight: 205 lbs / 93 kg

High School: Parkview in Little Rock, AR

College: University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Career: Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996 with the 24th pick of the 1st round... Signed with the Golden State Warriors on July 16, 2004 as free agent... traded to Utah Jazz on July 12, 2006... released by the Jazz on On July 2, 2007 and signed by the Lakers in June 16.

NBA Seasons: 11 (1996-97 to present)

NBA Titles: 3 - 2000, 2001 and 2002

The Player:

If you don't know who Derek Fisher is then you're unaware of one the greatest playoffs moments in NBA history: the 0.4 shot.

After being selected by the Lakers in the 1996 NBA draft, Fisher spent his first 8 seasons with the team, a span that included 3 NBA titles. Although those championships first bring to mind the Kobe-Shaq duo, the supporting cast was excellent and Fisher was a key part of it. He played in 56 of the 58 playoff games of the Three-peat and he was the season and playoff third scorer of the team in 2001 and 2002 with averages of 13.4 and 10.2 points per game in playoffs.

In 2004 with the addition of Gary Payton, Fisher was relegated to the bench and his minutes felt from 34.5 the previous season to 21.6, but he had his moment of glory in the playoffs against the reigning champion Spurs. In game 5, with the series tied at 2, Tim Duncan made a supposedly game-winner leaving the Lakers one point down with just 0.4 seconds left. After three time-outs, Payton found Fisher, who managed to catch, turn, and release a fadeaway jumper over the perfect defense of Manu Ginobili. The ball went in and it immediately became a classic playoff play.

After the Lakers were defeated by the Pistons in the Finals that year Fisher became a free-agent and trying to get the money and the minutes the Lakers weren't able to give him signed with the Warriors. Two seasons later he was traded to Utah and in his only season there he led a young Jazz team (he had more playoff games that all the other players together) to the Western Conference Finals.

The situation involving his 10-month-old daughter, that was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a degenerative and rare form of eye cancer which required surgery and treatment at New York led him to ask to be released from his contract with the Jazz to be in a city where she could be properly treated. Los Angeles was one of those cities an Fisher accepted a 3-year 14 million contract, resigning around 7 millions from his previous contract with the Jazz.