Revealing the stories behind the headlines, Los Angeles Times writer Mark Heisler investigates the 45-year history of the Los Angeles Lakers and unveils a pattern of pampered and/or misguided players, megalomaniacal executives, and owners whose obsessive drives for championships and attention combined to create an atmosphere of conflict for decades Throughout the entire 2003-04 season, fans and the media called the L.A. Lakers the biggest reality show in the country. But the laundry list of conflicts-the ongoing Kobe-Shaq bickering, Kobe’s sexual assault trial, Phil Jackson’s final season, Gary Payton’s refusal to admit his physical decline, and the loss to Detroit in the championship-was just another year in the history of the Lakers. Madmen’s Ball goes back to the Lakers’ unceremonious arrival in Los Angeles in 1960 to show that the franchise has been embroiled in controversy, in-house battles and personality clashes for generations.