In 2007, Derek Fisher requested his release from the Utah Jazz so that he could relocate his family back home to Los Angeles to receive medical help for his 11-month-old daughter Tatum, who was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer.
Almost 20 years later, Fisher revealed in an interview that he sacrificed $21 million on the three years left of his contract so that his daughter could receive the medical care she needed in Los Angeles.
“The people that she would need if I was working, they were here,” Derek said. “So the decision to move to back to LA didn’t matter if I was playing basketball or not.”
Fisher went on to say that he and the Jazz explored a trade opportunity with the team, but due to him and his family being on a short timeline, and his determination to return to Los Angeles, the two sides agreed on a zero-dollar buyout, giving Derek the “freedom of choice.”
With so much uncertainty in the air, Fisher admitted that he wasn’t focused on playing basketball again but was prioritizing the health of his daughter and getting her back to Los Angeles.
“We’re going to have to live in a city that has the hospitals and the medical care that my daughter needs, regardless of basketball,” Fisher said.
The former Lakers point guard added that his wife at the time, [Candace], who is a Los Angeles native, still had family living in the area, and they were available to help with additional treatment for Tatum.
With his family relocated back in Los Angeles, Fisher ended up signing a three-year $14.1 million contract with the Lakers.
In 2004, his first stint with the Lakers came to an end after helping the team three-peat from 2000-2002, while being paired alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
During the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals, the Little Rock, Arkansas native was traveling between New York and Utah to see Tatum while she was receiving treatment.
A year after he appeared in 82 games with the Jazz in 2007, Fisher helped Bryant win two more NBA championships in 2009 and 2010.
