It’s tough to imagine an NBA player “never getting a chance” in almost five years as a pro, the cliche enough to make most people scoff.

It’s tough to imagine an NBA player “never getting a chance” in almost five years as a pro, the cliche enough to make most people scoff.

But Ramon Sessions has pushed back a series of basketball boulders to reveal a meadow of opportunity.

“It’s crazy. My whole career, there’s never been a point where I kind of had control,” he said. “Now I’ve got control.”

He’s been the Lakers’ point guard for one month, and it’s never been easier to remember his decision to leave the University of Nevada and enter the 2007 draft as a junior because he figured there was a lack of point guards in a draft heavy on big men.

His name almost wasn’t called.

Milwaukee took him 56th out of 60 picks, just below Herbert Hill and just above Sammy Mejia.

He was averaging 10.5 points and 5.2 assists as a backup when the Lakers plucked him away a few hours before last month’s trade deadline. They also traded Derek Fisher the same day in a cost-cutting move.

“When they got rid of Fish, I was like, wow, these guys really must believe in me,” Sessions said. “They want me to come in and play for the Lakers and start for the Lakers when I’m in Cleveland and I can’t even start for them.”

Sessions, 26, began this week averaging 13.1 points and 7.1 assists with his new team, providing a burst of speed and scoring the Lakers haven’t had at the position in years.

“He’s given this team a big lift,” Lakers Coach Mike Brown said. “You see and you feel some leadership capabilities within him. That’s something that at that point-guard position, if he can get comfortable doing it, which I think he very well can, it can help out this organization for a long, long time.”

Sessions is expected to decline a player option for $4.6 million next season and become an unrestricted free agent.

He said he didn’t want to move again, not with so much clarity in his basketball career.

“These fans really believe in me in this place and they really know basketball. They’ve seen the greatest of greats come through here,” he said. “It’s unreal. In my whole career, it’s never been like this, being noticed. You’re on ESPN every night or TNT. You’re with Kobe Bryant out there in the backcourt.

“I want to be here. I don’t know what that means or how that’s going to happen. It ain’t no secret. I’ll tell anybody that. I tell (Lakers General Manager) Mitch Kupchak. I tell my agent. I want to be here. Period.

• Mike Bresnahan, MCT Campus