Trade seems unlikely

Will the trade deadline come and go without the Lakers making a move?

Likely so, unless something changes dramatically before today’s deadline at noon.

All-Star guard Jason Kidd still belonged to the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday, meaning the main additions to the Lakers’ lineup the rest of the season probably will be the return of some injured players.

“I think it’s very unlikely anything happens with our team,” General Manger Mitch Kupchak said Wednesday night. “I think we will end up with the same team tomorrow that we have today.”

The Lakers haven’t made a trade near the deadline since acquiring Glen Rice in 1999, although their hands were somewhat tied this month after they pulled Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum from consideration, limiting the pool of players they had to offer.

Kwame Brown was mentioned in talks for Kidd, although Brown claimed not to know of it.

“I never heard it,” he said. “I don’t listen. It only bothers you if you listen. I can’t do anything for the team right now anyways, so I’m just trying to get healthy.”

The Lakers even engaged in discussions with one of their main rivals, the Sacramento Kings, for point guard Mike Bibby. The talks were stopped upon being discovered by the Kings’ owners, the Maloof brothers, one of whom had a particularly hard time envisioning Bibby in a Lakers uniform, a source said.

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The main part of the Lakers’ game that needs retooling is their defense, “without a doubt,” Coach Phil Jackson said.

The Lakers were giving up 102.2 points a game, 23rd in the league before Wednesday’s game against Portland. It has started with lackadaisical defense up top and worked its way down to inconsistent defense and rebounding by the Lakers’ big men, along with frequent foul trouble for Bynum.

“Andrew’s been back there defending the basket and he’s got these guards buzzing around him like hornets, coming in there unimpeded,” Jackson said. “Our guards and wings have not been doing a good job of sealing the lane, and he’s getting in foul trouble. It’s tough for him to develop a sense of protecting the basket in the lane when he’s got that many things happening to him.”

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With a second All-Star MVP award in his custody, Bryant is hoping to win his first regular-season MVP award.

Or maybe not.

“Give it to Dirk [Nowitzki], give it to [Steve] Nash,” Bryant said. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s not something that you say, ‘Well, I don’t want it, it would be a bad thing.’ If it happens, it happens, but it’s not something that I seek out. My main emphasis is not on getting numbers. It’s about getting W’s.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com