Kobe Bryant Fans!

With the Kevin Garnett fantasy finally extinguished, the focus quickly turns to Indiana Pacer Jermaine O’Neal.

I was lucky enough to catch O’Neal at the LA Stars Charity All-Star Basketball Game on Sunday. Check out my colleague Preetom Bhattacharya’s write-up of the interview, “Jermaine O’Neal Not Interested in Rebuilding.”

Of course the blowback from O’Neal’s statements has already begun. The thrust of the interview was that O’Neal doesn’t want to go through a lengthy rebuilding process in Indiana. Given the opportunity he’d welcome a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers or New Jersey Nets.

The following is from the Indy Star:

The ESPN story also quoted O’Neal as criticizing Bird for wanting too much from the Lakers in a trade. “Larry Bird is a hard man to deal with,” O’Neal was quoted as saying. “He tries to make unfair trades. He wants to gut a team, but the Lakers are trying to get over the hump. I want Indiana to benefit, but with some nice young players and draft picks. I want to make it clear that I don’t want to gut a team that I come to, because then it’ll be like Indiana all over again.”

O’Neal denied making that statement Monday when it was read to him. “Wow,” he said. “I didn’t say that.”

I can clarify that those specific comments were not made by O’Neal when he spoke to the small pool of reporters on Sunday.He was hit with a barrage of questions about the Lakers and answered them openly and honestly. But then I couldn’t help but think that if he were at a charity event on the East Coast his answers may have been nearly identical . . . just substitute the words “Los Angeles, Lakers and Kobe” with “New Jersey, Nets and Kidd.”

Contrary to a published report, I did not hear him say that the Lakers were specifically the team he wanted to be traded to.

Now you have a situation because someone is lying.

I can only attest to what I witnessed. It’s certainly possible that O’Neal made additional comments later in the night . . . it would be pretty outlandish for a major news organization to misquote anyone that badly.

Speaking to O’Neal, there was never a sense that he had given the Pacers an ultimatum. It’s obvious he’d like to move on but he only has so much say in the matter.

As far as his opt out clauses . . . he simply has too much guaranteed money to walk away from. The Pacers still hold the cards and can trade him at their discretion.

Then there’s the question of why O’Neal would show up in Los Angeles at a charity game that he wasn’t playing in. He had to know going in the kind of questions he would be asked by the local reporters. Unlike most players Sunday, O’Neal made himself readily available to the media.

Perhaps he was hoping to kick-start the process.

O’Neal may be the best player available that the Lakers have a shot at.

Sources close to both parties indicate neither the Lakers nor Kobe Bryant feel a trade sending out both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum for O’Neal is a move worth making.

Whether pressure from O’Neal himself will help or hinder a compromise remains to be seen.

If the Pacers would consider a package built around Bynum, Kwame Brown, Brian Cook and Aaron McKie (thrown in via sign and trade to balance the salaries), the Lakers might have a solution to the Kobe Bryant crisis.

If not the Lakers will have to look elsewhere for help or risk standing pat. As it is, Bryant still views the Chicago Bulls as his destination of choice.

It’s also why the Pacers feel they can just wait the Lakers out.

Source: HoopsWorld

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