Andrew Bynum says he believes Lakers won’t trade him

--The Orlando Sentinel’s Brian Schmitz talks with Lakers center Andrew Bynum, who says he believes he’ll remain a Laker after the March 15 trading deadline. Schmitz also reports a rumor involving the Magic and the Lakers: The Lakers trade Bynum and Pau Gasol to the Magic for Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson.

--The Times’ John Cherwa looks at how Lakers and the Clippers are strongly represented on this year’s Western Conference all-star team.

--The Times’ Ben Bolch looks at the Clippers’ improved popularity in Los Angeles.

--The Daily News’ Vincent Bonsignore and the Orange County Register’s Janis Carr examine West all-stars Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Bynum. Bonsignore explains how Bryant uses All-Star weekend to rest.

--ESPN Los Angeles’ Brian Kamenetzky hands out midterm grades to the Lakers.

--Sports Illustrated’s Zach Lowe wonders how much Bryant wants a fifth All-Star MVP award.

--Fox Sports West’s Joe McDonnell reflects on Magic Johnson’s performance in the 1992 NBA All-Star game.

--Sheridan Hoops’ Chris Sheridan details how NBA Commissioner David Stern remained unanswerable in whether he thought it was appropriate to stop Paul from going to the Lakers.

--Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears reports that Howard is ready to finish this season with Orlando.

--The Orange County Register’s Mark Whicker argues that Lakers would be a much better team had Paul been allowed to stay with the team.

--Forum Blue and Gold’s Darius Soriano reflects on Bryant’s first NBA All-Star game.

Tweet of the Day: “Hardest thing for Lakers fans today will be seeing Kobe, CP3 & Bynum in the starting lineup knowing that could’ve been their nightly lineup.” -- ArashMarkazi (ESPN Los Angeles’ Arash Markazi)

Rick Friedman Reader Comment of the Day: “We need youth, a point guard, offense and leadership.
So Jim Buss gets us an old, retired, defensive-minded power forward, that holds records for technical fouls. BRILLIANT!” - Neil Garces

-- Mark Medina

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