this is a common move and a lot of times it is not disingenuous, but let's say i ask pau gasol: "Hey Pau, do you feel comfortable reuniting with Spanish national teammate Jose Calderon?"

And Pau says, "For sure, it feels wonderful to be back playing with him from that team."

Well, should I be desperate enough to use that junky quote, I'd have to clean it up and put in parts of the question to clarify his answer.

So, most likely, the Pacers blogger asked him if it would be tough to say no to playing with Kobe. He gave an answer with pronouns, like a normal human being in a conversation would, and it had to be adapted for clarity in print.

I hope that made sense.

Anyway, no, LB didn't add it, seemed like a reasonable enough swipe to me.