Days after insisting he wants to be a Los Angeles Laker for life, Kobe Bryant says he'll consider the Denver Nuggets among free-agent suitors. Also, Shaquille O'Neal publicly chastises general manager Mitch Kupchak.
It adds up to a typical day for the NBA's glamour team.
"Some of the things you call distractions aren't really distractions to us. I've been through it for seven years," O'Neal said.
"We don't have a choice," Bryant said. "You just deal with it. You don't complain, you don't whine about it. You come to work, work hard and try to improve."
The Lakers (36-20) have shown improvement recently, having won seven of nine entering a four-game road trip beginning on Saturday in Washington.
No surprise there, considering Bryant and O'Neal have returned after injuries prompted lengthy stints on the sidelines, leaving Karl Malone as the only missing ingredient. And he's expected to return within a couple weeks.
But a 112-111 victory in Denver and a 103-101 loss to visiting Sacramento again revealed a major shortcoming -- defense.
Denver rookie Carmelo Anthony and Sacramento veterans Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby were virtually unstoppable, and both the Nuggets and Kings made countless uncontested shots.
Only Bryant's brilliance kept both games close.
"We lost it on the defensive end," Bryant said following Thursday's loss to the Kings. "The offense will come and go. In this kind of game, you really need to get stops, and we didn't."
While still the NBA's dominant inside player, O'Neal doesn't appear as mobile as he did during the championship years of 2000-2002.
Gary Payton may be called "The Glove" for his ability to stifle an opponent on the defensive end, but at age 35 he's at least a step slower than before.
Bibby exploited that shortcoming, consistently getting wide-open shots.
But these aren't the playoffs, and that's where the Lakers have excelled in recent years, except for last season.
"They're probably going to be the team to beat when they get all those guys together, and they proved that early in the year," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "Shaq and Kobe are the keys. If those two guys are healthy and playing well, they can beat anybody.
"Once they get everybody back and playing together, they're going to get on a roll."
The Lakers were on a roll until Malone hurt his right knee on Dec. 21 -- an injury that proved more serious than first believed.
When Malone and Payton signed as free agents last summer, the Lakers were all but crowned champions despite the fact that Bryant faces sexual assault charges stemming from what he claimed to be consensual sex with a 19-year-old Colorado woman in June.
The long-standing Shaq-Kobe feud resurfaced shortly before the season began, but was quickly forgotten as the Lakers started 18-3, including three victories over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.
The dynamics changed significantly shortly thereafter when Malone was injured. Within three weeks, O'Neal and Bryant were also on the sidelines, leaving the likes of Jamal Sampson, Ime Udoka and Maurice Carter playing in crunch time on occasion.
The good thing about the injuries was the opportunity it gave such reserves as rookies Luke Walton and Brian Cook along with Slava Medvedenko and Kareem Rush, who have all been impressive at times.
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