Rumors Aside, Jackson Wants Bryant Back Next Season

NBA general managers weigh the anger in the kid in the suit, the methods of the coach with the soul patch and the mood of the owner in the blue jeans.

As of today, the Laker front is united. Despite rumors and appearances otherwise, Kobe Bryant is not for sale.

General Manager Mitch Kupchak, scheduled to return to Los Angeles today from the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia, has bristled at the very question for weeks, sometimes answering when there was no question at all.

This summer, Kupchak will field his share of inquiring telephone calls, no matter the outcome of the Lakers’ bid to repeat last season’s championship.

Coach Phil Jackson addressed the topic when it splashed over from a conversation on Isaiah “J.R.” Rider’s future with the club, and whether Jackson had any interest in having the grim guard back again.

“I haven’t considered next year,” Jackson said. “Coaches don’t, or shouldn’t, do that, unless they’re making assessments on players as far as free agents and opponents and things like that. Your own team, you just go through it. At least from my standpoint, that’s how I tend to it.

“I want Shaq [O’Neal] back next year. And Kobe’s got a contract that extends [four years]. Those are two players I want back. Outside of that, I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t thought about the players that are on the margin.”

Pressed then on the Bryant issue, Jackson grinned. He has heard the rumors, as he should, because his public criticism of Bryant has fueled them.

“You guys are in the rumor market,” Jackson said, chiding reporters. “You know what’s going on. Don’t ask me these questions.

“There’s been more than that that’s been kind of thrown around here. So I know there’s this underground, this kind of current, that’s trolling through the NBA press desks, that says [a Bryant trade] might be a possibility. But we haven’t considered it. There’s been no feelers, nothing.”

Jackson never did answer the question on Rider, though maybe he didn’t think he had to.

Barring a turnaround on and off the floor, Rider does not appear to be in the Lakers’ plans.

Rider practiced Saturday.

“I like him,” Jackson said. “It’s just that he’s unpredictable.”

*

Bryant, trying to return from tendinitis in his left ankle, played one-on-one against Greg Foster and then shot jumpers for 30 minutes on a Target Center practice court. The Lakers have five regular-season games remaining. Asked how many he’d need to be playoff ready, Bryant grinned and said, “If I play [today] I need five. If I don’t, I’ll need four.”

*

A life-size bronze statue of George Mikan, who led the Minneapolis Lakers to four NBA championships from 1950-54, will be unveiled outside Target Center at halftime of today’s game between the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Mikan, 76, has had the lower portion of his right leg amputated because of complications from diabetes and relies on a walker. He also undergoes kidney dialysis three times a week.

TODAY

at Minnesota

2:30 p.m. PDT, Channel 4

* Site--Target Center, Minneapolis.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 51-26, Timberwolves 45-30.

* Record vs. Timberwolves--1-1.

* Update--The Lakers beat the Timberwolves, 115-108, at Staples Center in November and lost to them, 96-83, at Minneapolis in January. With seven games left, the Timberwolves hold a comfortable lead over the Houston Rockets and Seattle SuperSonics for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.