Butler Extended but Not Rush

The Lakers took a long look at their third-year players and came to two different conclusions: Caron Butler is in for another season, Kareem Rush is not.

The Lakers picked up the fourth-year option on Butler’s contract, which will keep him with the team through 2005-06, but they declined the option for Rush, making the hot-and-cold shooter an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Rush, selected No. 20 by Toronto and traded to the Lakers during the 2002 draft, played brilliantly at times, making six of seven shots from behind the arc to help eliminate Minnesota in Game 6 of last season’s Western Conference finals.

But Rush, who turned 24 Saturday, was also prone to cold spells -- he averaged only 3.6 points against Detroit in the Finals -- and he has been hampered by a chronically sore tendon in his right foot. Rush, who would have made $1.81 million next season, forgot to wear orthotics in a new pair of shoes in an exhibition opener and had to sit out the next five games because of soreness.

“This gives me a chance to go out there and explore my options,” said Rush, who has averaged 4.6 points and shot 42.3% in his career. “I’ve been playing behind Kobe [Bryant] for three years now, and this gives me a chance to get out there. I’m actually kind of excited about it.”

If Rush excels this season, the Lakers could pursue him the same way they re-signed Devean George in July 2002 after initially declining the option on his fourth year before the 2001-02 season. George ultimately signed a four-year deal worth slightly less than $18.5 million.

“We were hoping to get a much better look at [Rush] in training camp and he got hurt,” Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “We didn’t get as good a look as we had hoped. I would hope that he would respond the same way Devean responded, which is to have a great year and we do what we have to do next summer.”

Butler, acquired from the Miami Heat in July as part of the Shaquille O’Neal trade, will make $2.46 million next season. “This is a great situation for me,” said Butler, 24, who averaged 12.5 points his first two seasons with the Heat. “I’m going to make the front office look like geniuses, going out there hard every night and just being Caron.”

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The Minnesota Timberwolves are no longer pursuing Karl Malone because they firmly believe he would re-sign with the Lakers if he decided to play again, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Malone said last month he would return to the Lakers if he decided not to retire, but the Timberwolves continued to send overtures until recently. Malone will not make his decision official until he is fully recovered from off-season knee surgery, which could take another month.

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The Lakers must decide today between point guard Tierre Brown and shooting guard Tony Bobbitt for the 15th and final roster spot. Brown, who has played 58 games in three seasons with three NBA teams, is expected to be retained.... NBA Commissioner David Stern on Phil Jackson’s book: “I think that it makes [the case] with an exclamation point that the NBA is reality programming.”