The Cavaliers, the Hawks, the Knicks and the 76ers were among the teams that pursued Fox, who averaged 15.4 points and 5.2 rebounds with Boston last season. Cleveland reportedly offered him a four-year, $20 million deal, and Fox says some of the suitors guaranteed him a starting spot. He got no such assurances from the Lakers, who also didn't have the salary-cap space to come close to matching Fox's more lucrative offers, but he agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal with them anyway. Playing in Los Angeles will give him a better chance of furthering his acting career—he has received good notices as Jackson Vahue, a heroin-snorting NBA player serving time for attempted rape and assault, in the HBO prison drama, Oz—but he insists that his Hollywood aspirations weren't the main reason he took a smaller part for considerably smaller money; his frustrations in Boston were. "I just wanted the chance to play for a championship," Fox says. "I couldn't stand the losing anymore. I despised it."

To make it clear that winning was his first priority, Fox, who wore number 44 at North Carolina and with the Celtics, chose number 17 with the Lakers, symbolic of what eluded him in Boston: the Celtics' 17th championship. Fox improves the Lakers' chances of seizing an NBA title by adding more flexibility to what was already one of the league's deepest teams. Coach Del Harris has power with O'Neal and forward Elden Campbell, speed with Bryant, Jones, Van Exel and forward Robert Horry. He has perimeter shooting with Fox, Horry and Van Exel, and slashers in Horry and Jones.

Having all that talent is also L.A.'s potential weakness. Harris must give his top players enough minutes to keep their concentration from wandering, as it appeared to at times last season. "If by some little stretch of the imagination the Lakers get some common sense over the summer," Rockets forward Charles Barkley said last May, "they're going to be the team to beat."

Harris concedes that Los Angeles sometimes lacked maturity and focus last season, but he thinks the Lakers are ready to improve in those areas, mainly because they've made only one significant addition, Fox. "This is the first time in the four years I've been here that we will have such carryover in our nucleus," Harris says. "The first year we had Cedric [Ceballos], Eddie and me as newcomers. The next year we had Magic [Johnson] return. Last year we added Shaq. This time the heart of the team is intact. We're a year older and a few mistakes wiser."

It remains to be seen whether L.A. has the wisdom to avoid the kind of playoff meltdown it suffered last year in a second-round loss to Utah, when the contentiousness between Harris and Van Exel boiled over. Both sides say they are committed to getting along better, and Van Exel even sought counseling over the summer to help him with controlling his anger and dealing with authority. If the Lakers can avoid that kind of conflict—and if the troublesome left knee that Van Exel says could force his premature retirement holds up—Fox could get his hands on the championship trophy he wants so badly. It's not an Oscar, but it's a start.

—Phil Taylor