Jermaine Seeking Trade To Lakers

Link:If Jermaine O'Neal gets his wish, he will not be playing for the Indiana Pacers next season. If he gets his dream, according to Sports Illustrated, he will be suiting up for the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant.

While in Los Angeles Sunday for a charity basketball game hosted by Baron Davis and Paul Pierce, O'Neal said he doesn't want to be a part of a Pacers youth movement and that it would be in his and the team's best interest to part ways.

"I would welcome a trade to the Lakers," said O'Neal. "Indiana has given me the opportunity to establish myself as a really good player in this league, but they're into rebuilding and going really young, and I'm just not in a position physically to go through another five to six years with a lot of losses and a lot of down time."

The Lakers have tried to acquire O'Neal several times this offseason, but talks have reportedly stalled over Indiana's insistence that the Lakers' package include both Lamar Odom and 19-year-old center Andrew Bynum. The Lakers' refusal to part with Bynum, the 10th pick in the 2005 draft, cost them a chance at Jason Kidd during last year's trading deadline. The failed trade was the basis of Bryant's infamous videotaped tirade in a shopping center parking lot in which he said the Lakers should have dealt Bynum for Kidd.

"I was ready but you never know in this business," said Kidd, who was also in Los Angeles for the charity game. "Playing with Kobe makes the game easy. He's the most dominant offensive player and he's a competitor, and I love playing with guys who love to compete."

If the Lakers once again fail to deal Bynum for a proven All-Star, Kidd could be the benefactor: O'Neal said he would also welcome a move to the Nets.

"Los Angeles and New Jersey would be my top two teams," O'Neal said. "I think L.A.'s a real possibility and I think New Jersey's a possibility too."

The idea of O'Neal coming to New Jersey quickly put a smile on Kidd's face.

"I think that would be a great addition for us if we had an opportunity to get a guy like Jermaine," Kidd said. "He comes every night to play and he's a great person and a great basketball player. It would be a huge move."

If O'Neal had to choose one destination, however, it would be Los Angeles. He recently sold his home in Westwood after getting an unexpectedly good deal but said that he and his wife were already searching for a new house in Los Angeles and would love to make it a permanent residence.

Vash wrote:I am definitely glad that Knicks are no longer interested in him since we got Randolph. We would have had to give up a heck of a lot more to get him. I don't know if getting him is gonna help Kobe and the Lakers out that much though.

Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal has discounted Internet reports that he wants to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"My preference is to play here and win here,"O'Neal said in a telephone interview after returning from Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, attempting to deflate a brewing controversy that had brought clarifying statements from Pacers president Larry Bird and O'Neal's agent, Arn Tellem.

O'Neal appeared at -- but did not play in -- a charity basketball game Sunday hosted by NBA stars Baron Davis and Paul Pierce. There he talked with reporters from Web sites for Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

Both accounts quoted him expressing a desire to be traded to the Lakers.
"It's time for me to move on," O'Neal was quoted in the ESPN story. "And the Lakers are the team I want Indiana to trade me to."

O'Neal added the Pacers are "obviously" in a rebuilding mode, and he did not want to "take in five years of losses and downtime." He added he also would favor a trade to New Jersey.

Bird has had trade discussions with both teams regarding O'Neal this summer. A draft day conversation with the Nets was brief, however, and he has not talked with the Lakers since early July.

Bird issued a statement through the Pacers on Monday, repeating his claim that O'Neal would be traded only if he brings "fair market value."
"Jermaine has worked out very hard this summer while rehabilitating his knee after surgery (for a torn meniscus)," the statement read. "We believe under (new coach) Jim O'Brien that our team as a whole and Jermaine as a player can be successful. You never know what will happen, but for now Jermaine is an Indiana Pacer."

Tellem, in an e-mail to The Associated Press, denied O'Neal wanted out of Indiana. "He hasn't requested a trade to the Lakers," Tellem wrote. "Any reports to the contrary are inaccurate."

The ESPN story also quoted O'Neal as criticizing Bird for wanting too much from the Lakers in a trade.

Knicks Always n Forever wrote:look at it like this. If we get Artest, and the Nets will get O'Neal, look at our Division. Raptors have Chris Bosh. Celtics have Kevin Garnett. Nets would have O'Neal. And We would have Artest. Our division would go from the worst to one of the best

Jermaine O'Neal fired another round of volleys in his defense Tuesday to clarify his stance regarding his future with the Indiana Pacers.

Which is, basically, that he wants one.
Continuing to deny the gist of Internet reports out of Los Angeles that he wanted a trade, O'Neal volunteered for an afternoon interview on a local radio station and had the Pacers release a transcript and audio file of comments he made Sunday before a charity basketball game in Los Angeles.

Pacers president Larry Bird, meanwhile, downplayed the impact of O'Neal's interview with reporters from the Sports Illustrated and ESPN Web sites in which he discussed the possibility of playing for the Los Angeles Lakers or New Jersey Nets.

"He should have come in here and talked about it privately," Bird said in an interview with WNDE-1260 AM. "But it happens. I've been in this league for 27 years and I've seen (former teammates) do things like that. You don't like it to happen, but it happened, and we just have to move forward."

Bird acknowledged that O'Neal's comments might make it more difficult to work a trade involving him, but said the Pacers aren't seeking one at the moment.

"The tendency is when players come out and talk about being traded, it does hurt you," Bird said. "We were in a situation a couple of years ago with Ronny Artest and it took us awhile to move him. But I know Jermaine wants to be here, and hopefully we can be on the same page and move forward."

O'Neal said the Internet reports took his comments out of context by ignoring his desire to stay with the Pacers. The audio file appeared to validate that claim, although it did not include his entire conversation with reporters.

O'Neal told reporters in L.A. that he would opt out of his contract after the upcoming season if the Pacers are in a rebuilding mode, but he has since emphasized he doesn't believe that is the case.
O'Neal also said his interest in being traded to the Lakers or Nets would be contingent on the Pacers being in a rebuilding phase and wanting to move him.