Kobe Bryant appeared ready to speak, so his teammates gathered around to soak in every word he said.

Yet, Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. did not huddle up with his teammates because of a backdrop that uniquely defined the Lakers’ 2015-16 season.

“There’s a camera guy moving me out of the way to get to Kobe,” Nance Jr. recalled, laughing. “It’s been an adjustment. But I just try to have fun with it.”

As the Lakers finished with a franchise-worst 17-65 record, their challenges went beyond the 37-year-old Bryant delaying Father Time or fielding a roster that featured mostly toddlers when Bryant entered the NBA 20 years ago. The Lakers also navigated the tight-rope between embracing Bryant’s farewell tour without obstructing the team’s rebuilding process.

“I wouldn’t do anything differently. He deserved everything he got,” Scott said of Bryant, who won five NBA titles and climbed to third place on the league’s all-time scoring list. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I thought we handled it extremely well.”

Bryant’s teammates publicly embraced the festivities surrounding his final season. So much that many of them sought autographs from him after capping his career last week with a 60-point effort against Utah. Yet, Scott admitted it was a “possibility” that backdrop contributed to the Lakers’ season-long inconsistency.

“Sometimes our guys were torn on how to play or when to do this or when to do that, because they were so into him being on the court,” Scott said. “When he was off the court then there was sometimes a battle of, ‘OK, who’s going to take over?’ instead of ‘Let’s play together.’”

Bryant may have encouraged his teammates to play aggressive and even lobbied Scott later in the season to feature his young players more. Yet, Bryant still averaged 17.6 points on a career-low 35.8 percent clip, while taking a team-leading 16.9 shots per game.

“You didn’t know what a lot of people were capable of because of the retirement. Next year you’ll get a better feel of what everybody is capable of, players, coaches, everybody,” Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell said. “That’s something we’ve been discussing throughout the year. It wasn’t something that recently came upon. But it’s also not an excuse.”

With Bryant frequently missing practices and shootarounds to stay healthy, his teammates could only foster chemistry with him on gamedays.

“He wasn’t always able to come to practice like he would do on a real team playing for something,” Lakers forward Metta World Peace said. “It was hard for them to reap the benefits of that year. Between that and still being young, next year will be a better year.”

Given the circumstances, however, Bryant’s teammates gushed on how he at least planted the foundation for what they hope to become long and productive careers.

Lakers second-year forward Julius Randle and rookie forward Anthony Brown grew up idolizing Bryant, so they peppered him with questions any chance they could. Beyond helping him with his play, Russell sounded grateful for Bryant’s support amid criticism for secretly recording a video that showed Nick Young admitting infidelities.

“It was so small compared to his retirement and last game,” Russell said of his recorded video that went viral. “His success made me forget about a lot.”

Yet, that success also explains why the Bryant’s teammates embraced his farewell tour, even if it coincided with having increased annoyance for cameramen and microphones.

“It’s something,” Nance said, “I’ll always remember.”