Lakers Trainer Gary Vitti: Magic’s HIV Reveal, Kobe’s Achilles & Shaq’s Wildest Pranks
All The Smoke
The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts
4.7 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2026
⏱️ 151 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eight rings. 32 years. The man who saw every Kobe Bryant practice and game finally sits down.
Former Los Angeles Lakers head athletic trainer Gary Vitti opens up on November 7, 1991, the day he realized Magic Johnson was HIV positive before anyone told him. He also revisits the 1985 Memorial Day Massacre in Boston, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s accountability speech, and why HBO’s Winning Time got Jerry West and Dr. Jerry Buss wrong. He breaks down Pat Riley’s famous “12 + 2 + 1” inner circle and why Kareem still has the strongest GOAT case.
Then come the Shaq stories: police academy frisking that broke Vitti’s pelvis, wild locker-room pranks, Kobe getting waterboarded by Navy SEALs, the Sacramento suppository moment, Kobe’s Achilles tear, the “F*ck Paul Pierce” walk back to the bench, and the instant Vanessa arrived and the Black Mamba became dad again.
This is 32 years of Lakers history told by the one man who was there for all of it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.3 | Welcome back to Unplugged. |
| 0:06.8 | I've been very fortunate to grow up a Showtime Laker fan and fast forward and get a chance to meet a lot of my heroes. |
| 0:18.4 | But also able to sit down with a handful of that team from Magic to B. Scott to worthy, a little bit ahead of that Kobe Shack, Jeannie Buss herself. |
| 0:33.1 | But this guy, this guy has been behind the scenes for all of it. |
| 0:38.6 | And just one of the best humans I've ever had a chance to meet and be around. |
| 0:45.7 | And I'm really excited today to welcome the head, former head trainer of the Las Angeles Lakers for 32 years. |
| 0:53.6 | You got eight rings, G? |
| 0:55.1 | Yeah. |
| 0:55.5 | God damn. |
| 0:56.2 | Welcome to the show, Gary Vitti. |
| 0:59.2 | That's the anime. |
| 1:00.4 | Yeah. |
| 1:00.9 | Thanks for the kind words. |
| 1:02.1 | Yeah, long time coming. |
| 1:03.5 | You just gave us a wild SIM card story. |
| 1:06.2 | I'm glad that is, I'm glad that's behind you. |
| 1:09.3 | But how's life here at Grandpa now. I saw you send me a |
| 1:12.8 | pitchy rescued a dog that needed some loving. How's life for a retired vet? You know, never better, |
| 1:19.3 | actually. I mean, unfortunately, the world's not good. Yeah, well, crazy. I'd be lying to you if I |
| 1:24.6 | told you that didn't bother me. But my life is good, especially because for the most part, we have the health of all of our |
... |
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