It’s sunny and share for Lakers

If the Lakers needed a victory, they found one.

If Kobe Bryant needed a rest, he got one.

If there was concern about the health and general well-being of the Lakers, it could be forgotten for a day.

A 126-103 victory over the Sacramento Kings provided a breezy backdrop Sunday night at Staples Center. Two players returned from injury, another provided a small share of history and Bryant showed a pass-first mind-set that earned him a season-high 13 assists.

Where there was anger last week after a loss to Memphis and silence after an overtime setback to Houston, there was laughter and luminescence in the Lakers’ locker room.

The Lakers shot a season-high 61.7% and enjoyed their largest margin of victory since a 122-96 victory Feb. 23 over Boston, which also happened to be the last time before Sunday that they had five or more players in double-figure scoring.

All in all, a good series of events for the Lakers, who have nine games left in the regular season and are 2 1/2 ahead of the Denver Nuggets for sixth place in the Western Conference.

“This is the first time we’ve had a breakout game in I don’t know how long. I can’t remember,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “Maybe a month since we’ve had a game in which we’ve had guys that were starters sitting on the bench at the end of the game and enjoying watching guys play. So it was good for us.”

It started, as usual, with Bryant, although he switched up his recent role, trading in points for passes. He had 19 points, his lowest output for a game in which he wasn’t ejected since scoring 18 against Detroit on Feb. 8.

It was part of a loosely defined plan. “We counseled Kobe that [Ron] Artest is a player that he’s better off facing up than trying to post up because of his length and strength,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t anything about Kobe not shooting the ball or being a passer. He just fell in that mode and did a great job getting the ball inside.”

It seemed to be fine with Bryant, who played 38 minutes, his fewest in 10 games.

“I like seeing my teammates being in rhythm,” he said. “I like seeing their confidence. I like seeing them smile. I don’t like seeing them second-guessing themselves with their shots or anything like that or hanging their heads down. Tonight was a big game for them to kind of get their confidence back and their swagger back.”

The good news began trickling in for the Lakers before tip-off, with Maurice Evans and Brian Cook declaring themselves healthy enough to play, although Jackson wasn’t quite banking on restocking an injury-filled rotation.

“I still haven’t given them my final roster because you saw Kwame [Brown] come in here 20 minutes late,” Jackson said before the game. “He could have tripped on his way from the car to here or someone could get injured just walking out to the courts.”

Evans had missed five games because of a sore right knee, and Cook missed Friday’s game against Houston when his sprained left ankle flared up. Evans had 21 points on seven-for-eight shooting; Cook scored five.

“It felt good to score, just run and get easy baskets and see the ball go in the hole a little,” Evans said. “Everybody’s struggled a little bit lately except Kobe. We haven’t played with that kind of energy since early in the season.”

There was even a touch of history when Jordan Farmar entered with 7:38 to play, becoming the first player to appear in an NBA game and a Development League game in the same day.

Farmar had 18 points on five-for-16 shooting for the Lakers’ affiliate, the D-Fenders, Sunday afternoon at Staples Center and, after being called up by the Lakers, had four points and four rebounds against Sacramento.

A foul-plagued Lamar Odom had only seven points but did break a bad streak, hitting a three-point shot for the first time since he began playing with a torn labrum in his left shoulder nine games ago. He had been 0 for 17 since returning.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

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Nine to five

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The Lakers’ five remaining opponents in their last nine regular-season games:

Denver (36-36) Tuesday and April 9

Clippers (36-37) Wednesday, April 12

Seattle (30-43) Friday and April 15

Phoenix (55-18) Sunday and April 13

Sacramento (30-42) April 18