As we all attempt to grok Ron Artest: Los Angeles Laker, much will (rightfully) be made of the strange relationship Kobe Bryant and our antihero Artest enjoy. Off the court, the stars claim to be best friends. On the floor, there has been some serious (and recent!) bad blood.

But in real basketball results, Pau Gasol might be the most endangered Laker in all of this. Kobe ain't giving up shots to Ron-Ron ... but someone will have to, unless you think Artest -- who has in the past placed himself in the same league as Kobe and LeBron James -- will shave half his offense to become Trevor Ariza II. I sincerely doubt our protagonist will be so generous. So the Laker attacker who requires the ball to be fed -- Pau -- figures to suffer.

Some days, he feels he might be able to play one final season. Others, he suspects his NBA career could already have come to a close.

Matt Harpring isn't sure what will happen.

But he does plan to let the Jazz know by late August if he'll be good to go for training camp in October — or if his seven-year Utah run is done, cut short by a rash of injuries that have ravaged his body.

"Sometimes," Harpring said Thursday from his offseason home in the Atlanta area, where he played in high school and starred at Georgia Tech, "I have thoughts of playing. And then I have thoughts of not playing."

"Right now I haven't made a decision ... so I'm going to do whatever I can and see where I am the end of the summer," he said. "It's really too early to tell what's going to happen.

"But I don't want to be injured and in pain all season, or not produce like I should and not play like I should. That's bad for me, and bad for the Jazz. If I do play one more year, though, that would be the end of it."

Jason Kidd informed the Knicks he plans to take the holiday weekend to consider his options - coming to New York for the mid-level exception or taking a three-year, $24-million offer to stay in Dallas - before making a decision on his future.

The nine-time all-star is believed to be weighing the financial aspects (it is unclear if Dallas' deal guarantees the third year or if it is an option) with the intangibles of playing at the Garden and being close to his three children, who live in the New York area with his ex-wife.

Glen Davis, who averaged 15.8 points per game in the playoffs, is expected to receive a qualifying offer from the Celtics. Said Davis’s agent, John Hamilton: “We’re encouraged by what we heard and we will be patient. I had a good conversation with Danny on Wednesday.’’

Another league source said the Cavs also have been in contact with Denver Nuggets restricted free-agent forward Linas Kleiza. The 24-year-old is the type of "stretch" big man the Cavs have been interested in. He averaged 9.9 points for the Nuggets, who might not be able to retain him as they attempt to stay out of the luxury tax.

Ben Gordon’s insistence that the Bulls never made him an offer before he took a $55 million deal from Detroit – that the Bulls no longer wanted him – was met with a roll of the eyes from his old franchise, league sources said.

Gordon turned down offers of $50 and $54 million over the past two years, and league sources familiar with the talks say Gordon’s agent, Raymond Brothers, told Chicago management on Wednesday that he had an offer from the Pistons. Only, Brothers wouldn’t tell the Bulls how much Detroit was willing to pay. Even so, the agent still wanted Chicago to “counter.”

For Chicago to make a blind bid – as the agent wanted them to do – would’ve been silly and the Bulls never did.

Would the Bulls have gone to 11 million a year for Gordon? Sources don’t think so. With Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons returning in the backcourt, with Luol Deng healthy again in summer workouts, it made little financial sense for Chicago.

After losing out on Artest and Ariza, the Cleveland Cavaliers are discussing a possible sign-and-trade deal for Toronto Raptors swingman Anthony Parker, two league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday night.

No deal is imminent, sources say, but talks were continuing.

Parker, a 6-foot-6, is an unrestricted free agent after spending the past three seasons with the Raptors. He averaged 10.7 points and four rebounds last season. He was a first-round pick of the Nets in 1997, but spent most of his career in Europe.

Unrestricted free agent Sean May said via e-mail that the Bobcats contacted his agent, but have yet to make an offer to re-sign him, after declining to make a $3.6 million qualifying offer. May said four or five other teams have expressed interest.

Ben Gordon to the Pistons is a done deal. The method by which he will get there is still under discussion.

CBSSports.com has learned that the Bulls and Pistons may yet revisit Detroit's agreement with Ben Gordon and instead investigate a sign-and-trade that would send Allen Iverson to Chicago.

Discussions have not yet reached the highest levels of both organizations, but the revised look at how Gordon goes from Chicago to Detroit would benefit Gordon and the Bulls. Gordon would get an extra year, and thus more money, by signing with the Bulls and getting traded. The Bulls, who currently are getting nothing for losing him, would get Iverson -- a fading future Hall of Famer who would get to finish his career in a major market as long as he's willing to accept a secondary role.

It's a farfetched scenario, and not everyone involved would be on board -- particularly the Pistons. The major sticking point would be how to sweeten the deal for Detroit, which would only consider such an option if it would provide significant cap savings. The Pistons took themselves out of the 2010 free-agent sweepstakes by agreeing to terms with Gordon and Charlie Villanueva on the first day of the free-agent negotiating period.

A person familiar with the situation said the Pistons would flat-out refuse to entertain a sign-and-trade for Gordon unless it provided significant savings. The Bulls, too, may not be eager to do business with Gordon, whose agent did not give the team a chance to match Detroit's offer.

The Bulls also would want to know that Iverson, 34, would be totally committed despite not making the $20 million he's accustomed to and without playing the primary role he enjoyed for his entire career until he was traded to the Pistons for Chauncey Billups last season. Iverson did not adapt well to diminished minutes with the Pistons, and late in the season vowed to retire before he would come off another team's bench.

Looking to address the Charlotte Bobcats' need for a backup power forward, general manager Rod Higgins has contacted agents for Antonio McDyess and Brandon Bass.

McDyess, who played for the Detroit Pistons, and Bass, a Dallas Maverick, are both unrestricted free agents. Higgins said both discussions were preliminary, but he made it clear either one could fill a hole on the depth chart.

“You look at our roster, and he makes a lot of sense,” Higgins said of 6-foot-8 Bass, who played a total of four NBA seasons with the Hornets and Mavericks. “But he's going to have options, too.''

It's unclear how the Pistons' and Mavericks' situations might affect McDyess and Bass.

The Pistons reportedly have agreements to sign Chicago's Ben Gordon and Milwaukee's Charlie Villanueva once the new salary cap is announced next week. That will eat up much of the Pistons' cap room and Villanueva plays the same position as McDyess.

Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars needs to get moving if he wants to have a coach in place by the time the team leaves for play in the Las Vegas summer league next week.

Former Pistons coach Doug Collins withdrew his name from consideration, which would appear to open the door for former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson.

Collins told ESPN.com late Wednesday night that he thanked Dumars for the consideration, but he would remain an analyst for TNT.

Johnson appears to be the front-runner to replace Michael Curry, who was suddenly fired Tuesday on the eve of the NBA's free-agency period. Dumars has said he wants an experienced coach to lead the Pistons as he tries to shape the roster into an Eastern Conference contender.

And Johnson has the experience.

Celtics free agent guard Stephon Marbury said to The Globe early Friday morning that he doesn't expect to be returning to Boston after receiving a disappointing one-year contract paying $1.3 million using the veteran's minimum. Marbury said his representative, National Basketball Players Association deputy counsel Hal Biagas, called to tell him about the Celtics offer on Thursday night. The 32-year-old said three other teams, which he would not disclose, are currently interested. The two-time All-Star signed with the Celtics on Feb. 27 for the rest of the season after working out a buyout of his contract with the Knicks that paid $21.8 million after dealing with a soap opera-like situation that kept him sidelined over a year. Marbury averaged 3.8 points and 3.3 assists in 18 minutes per game during 23 contests last season with Boston.

The Griz also won't wait until the end of the summer to try to negotiate a contract extension with forward Rudy Gay. Griz GM Chris Wallace contacted Gay's agent, Jeff Austin, just after midnight Wednesday.

All-Star guard Allen Iverson has through representatives told the Grizzlies he would like to play in Memphis, an NBA source said Thursday.

The high-scoring veteran is a free agent for the first time in his professional career. Iverson, 34, reportedly has only had mild discussions with the Miami Heat since the free agency period began Wednesday.

Heat president Pat Riley has contacted Allen Iverson about joining Miami.

Iverson, a former league MVP who has averaged 27.1 points over 13 seasons, might be willing to accept an offer of one or two seasons in what is expected to be a tight market.

Iverson, 34, is coming off a rocky season in Detroit that ended with complaints about his role. He left the team before the playoffs to treat a back injury.

Although discussions with agent Leon Rose are believed to be in the initial stages, the Heat would likely be interested only if Iverson is willing to accept less than the full mid-level amount.

From Athens to Milwaukee and back to Atlanta, the name Josh Childress is being tossed around in every direction these days.

Childress is in Milwaukee today visiting the Bucks with his agent, Jim Tanner.

What that means for the Hawks is that they might get a do-over with Childress, a restricted free agent again this summer as he was last summer.

Last summer they lost him as an asset when he chose to sign with Greek power Olympiakos (for $20 million post taxes). What the Hawks didn’t lose was the right of first refusal on Childress if he decided to return to the NBA this summer.

And two of my spies have made it clear that were Childress to receive any sort of “reasonable” NBA offer (the $5.6 million mid-level exception or below), the Hawks would match it before Childress finished signing his name on the offer sheet (the aim, however, is to work out a sign-and-trade deal to appease both sides since Childress has made clear his desire to play elsewhere, per a source).

Ben Gordon said the Chicago Bulls did not make him an offer, despite general manager Gar Forman saying recently that re-signing Gordon was the team's goal.

Gordon visited the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday -- the first full day of NBA free agency -- and committed to a five-year deal for between $55 million and $60 million, sources told ESPN.com. Contracts can't be signed until July 8.

During an interview on ESPN 1000's "Waddle & Silvy" show, Gordon was asked how aggressively the Bulls pursued him.

"I mean, they didn't pursue me at all," Gordon said. "They didn't even make an offer, so it was pretty much a one-man race."

Gordon reportedly rejected $50 million offers from the Bulls the last two summers. Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said Gordon's agent Raymond Brothers wanted to accept the five-year, $50 million offer last summer after initially rejecting it, but the Bulls decided it was too late and took the offer off the table.

When (Hedo) Turkoglu landed in Portland on Thursday afternoon on Horizon Air flight 2253 from Seattle, he was greeted by Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard, Assistant General Manager Tom Penn and scouts Mike Born and Chad Buchanan.

"As a player, that's what you want – to be interested by teams, especially good teams," the 6'10 Turkish sharpshooter told the local media who gathered at Portland's International Airport.

"They've been a good team the last few years. They are a team that is built on a bunch of great young players. If things work out, I'm just going to be one of the experienced guys."

Sounds like a return flight to Orlando may not be in the works – at least not until Saturday.

Until then, the Blazers plan on showing and telling Turkoglu millions of reasons why he should sign with the Blazers this offseason: 5 years for $50 million to be exact. Toronto is reportedly also interested in Hedo and should be able to offer him more financially. But the Blazers – who finished with 54 wins last season and made the playoffs - are in a better position to win right now, and while money will eventually determine the outcome of Turkoglu's destination, every player wants the chance to play for a winner.

Turkoglu said the sooner he can finalize a deal, the better it would be for him and his offseason preparation.

All that is missing now is a formal offer from Portland.

The Hornets are also interested in veteran power forward/center Joe Smith, but his Los Angeles-based agent, Dan Fegan, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

In addition, the Hornets have inquired about free agent frontcourt players Mikki Moore, Maceo Baston and Jake Voskuhl, all are unrestricted free agents.

Jason Kidd will have to decide whether playing at Madison Square Garden is worth forfeiting $12million.

That is approximately the difference in the three-year offers Kidd received from the Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. A person close to the veteran point guard confirmed that the Knicks presented Kidd with a three-year contract worth approximately $18 million Saturday. The Mavs offered Kidd a three-year contract worth between $25million and $30million.

Kidd could take at least one more week to make a decision. Signings do not become official until this coming Wednesday. Mavs owner Mark Cuban is optimistic that Kidd will re-sign with Dallas.

The Knicks, who entertained Kidd on Wednesday, showed their commitment by offering three years. They originally planned to offer Kidd a one- or two-year contract but added a third year in order to stay competitive with Dallas.

Several league executives are convinced that Kidd is using the Knicks in order to squeeze more money out of Dallas. But a source close to Kidd claims that he is excited by the challenge of helping to turn around the Knicks. Also, Kidd believes that he could help lure LeBron James to New York if James becomes a free agent next summer.

At least one of Kidd's former teammates believes the Knicks have a good chance of landing the point guard. Former Net Richard Jefferson said on Dan Patrick's radio show Saturday that Kidd's "gonna be a Knick."

With less than a week before free agents can sign contracts, Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower has inquired about former LSU and Hornets forward Brandon Bass, a league source said Thursday afternoon.

Before the free agency period began Wednesday, Bass said through his agent, Tony Dutt, that the Hornets were one of the teams on his list. Although Dutt said the Hornets did not contact him early Wednesday morning, he anticipated getting a phone call from Bower eventually.

Talks are expected to continue, but Bass is drawing interest from several other teams. It is not known how much the Hornets would be willing to offer Bass.

Bass is a Baton Rouge native and a 2005 second-round pick by the Hornets. He struggled during his first two seasons with the Hornets before signing a free-agent deal with the Mavericks in 2007. As a backup last season, Bass averaged 8.5 rebounds and 4.5 rebounds.

As a Hornet, Bass' biggest problem in Coach Byron Scott's system was adjusting to his role as mainly a rebounder. But he proved to be one of the team's hardest workers.

This past season, Scott said if he had to do it over again, he would have changed some things to help Bass' development when he was with the Hornets.

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the 76ers reached out this week to the agent for Atlanta Hawks guard Mike Bibby, only to find that the 10-year veteran is intent on staying with the team he played for the last two seasons.

With the uncertainty of the Sixers' relationship with guard Andre Miller - he also is a free agent, and there are no signs that he plans to return - the team may be in need of a veteran point guard for first-year coach Eddie Jordan.

There is not much separating Miller, 33, and Bibby, 31, either in performance or contract requests.

The Houston Rockets have reached a multiyear deal with free agent Trevor Ariza, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Thursday night.

The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because NBA rules prohibit announcing free-agent deals until next week, said the Rockets offered Ariza the full mid-level exception for the first year, about $5.6 million.

Ariza is coming to Houston just as Ron Artest decided to leave and play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Ariza is likely to take Artest's spot in the Rockets' starting lineup.

The 6-foot-8 Ariza averaged 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the Lakers last season, which ended with the NBA championship.

The 24-year-old Ariza earned $3.1 million last season and he boosted his value during the playoffs, when he averaged 11.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists.

Houston Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming will have to wait up to a week before he knows whether he will need surgery on his broken left foot.

The playing future of the 7-foot-6 Yao is in question amid reports from the team doctor that the hairline fracture in his foot could keep him out all of next season, and potentially end his career.

''It hasn't been decided yet,'' Yao's agent, Eric Zhang, told The Associated Press on Friday. ''He is still in the process of group consultations of doctors holding different opinions and different plans. The result of the consultations is due within a week.''

Before that there is no way of telling whether surgery will be performed, Zhang said.

''We are still in the information gathering period,'' he said.

Shaq can have LeBron. Ron Artest says he'll take Kobe.

Artest, whose versatility and toughness have made him one of the most coveted and combustible players in the NBA, told CBSSports.com Thursday that he's signing with the Lakers.

"I'm definitely going to L.A. -- to sign, yeah," Artest said in a phone interview. "Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I'm in L.A. right now."

Artest said he met with Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss Thursday and previously had spoken with Lakers coach Phil Jackson. He was en route to his financial manager's office, where he planned to huddle on the phone with his agent, David Bauman, to finalize details.

Artest's exuberance -- he spent the whole summer in L.A., including several appearances at Lakers home games during the NBA Finals -- got ahead of the process a bit. Other teams that made overtures for Artest -- including the Cavaliers -- have not yet been notified that Artest is signing with the Lakers. (Consider them notified.) Bauman has spoken with Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, and a person with knowledge of the negotiations told CBSSports.com that Artest agreed to a five-year deal for the full mid-level exception -- about $33 million. It's the same deal that Houston agreed to with Trevor Ariza, who swaps cities with Artest.

"I don't really care about the money," Artest said. "I'll play there for nothing. ... L.A. was very interested in me, and they got me."

Despite their frontcourt needs, one of the first calls Bower made after midnight Wednesday was to guard Jannero Pargo's agent, Mark Bartelstein. But Bartelstein said Bower told him they still have things to work out with their roster before making a possible offer to Pargo.

Pargo, a former Hornet, can play both point guard and shooting guard. But if signed, most of Pargo's playing time minutes would probably come at the backup shooting guard spot. The Hornets are currently overstacked at that position with starter Rasual Butler and Peterson, Brown and rookie Marcus Thornton.

Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce joined president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and managing partner Wyc Grousbeck for a three-hour meeting with Wallace in Detroit yesterday, the Celtics offering a contract using their midlevel exception. But Wallace is apparently in no hurry to respond, preferring to weigh approaches from Charlotte, Cleveland, Orlando, and San Antonio, according to an NBA source.

Bill Strickland, Wallace’s agent, said in a text message that it was a “very good meeting; some contractual terms discussed, nothing agreed to.’’

Strickland added Wallace will be “meeting with a few more teams next week.’’