According to two league sources, the search for Bernie Bickerstaff's successor in Charlotte is underway -- and one of the candidates is former Raptors coach Butch Carter.

The sources maintain that Carter has been promised an interview with Bobcats minority owner Michael Jordan.

Charlotte Bobcats forward Emeka Okafor practiced Tuesday and is ready to return after missing 15 games with a strained left calf.

Okafor, the team's top rebounder and shot blocker, said he felt no discomfort during the 90-minute workout and plans to play Wednesday against Atlanta.

"It felt great. I'm just getting the rest of my body sharp," Okafor said. "We took the necessary steps to gradually work our way up to this point. I'm pretty sure I won't have soreness."

Kobe Bryant, who is on the greatest scoring binge since Wilt Chamberlain, was named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the second straight week.

Bryant averaged a staggering 51.0 points in helping the Lakers to a 3-0 record. He became just the second player in history to score 50 or more points in four consecutive games, joining Chamberlain, who holds the record with seven set in 1961.

Bryant scored 60 points in a win at Memphis on Thursday and 50 in a road victory over the New Orleans Hornets. His streak ended with 43 points in Sunday's win over Golden State.

Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace won Eastern Conference honors. Wallace averaged 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.33 blocks and 1.33 steals in helping the Bobcats split four games.

Vince Carter isn't optimistic that Michael Jordan and the Bobcats will be interested in him.

"I doubt he would," Carter said dismissively of Jordan. "You don't know what's going to happen. You can't recruit somebody if you don't know what's going to happen. That's a long time away, in my opinion, so we'll just see."

The NBA fined Bobcats part-owner Michael Jordan $15,000 for discussing Texas freshman Kevin Durant during an interview last week.

Team coaches and executives are barred from talking about underclassmen who have yet to declare for the NBA draft. But in an interview with The Charlotte Observer last Tuesday, Jordan said he was interested in versatile players and added, "The kid who may present that is the kid in Texas. (He) may have that because he has all the right signs."

The NBA league offices reminded all of its clubs on Friday that no one is allowed to talk to any college basketball and said extensive fines would be put in place if anyone did such a thing.

In a memo by a member of the NBA's general counsel, the league announced three clubs were already fined for talking about prospective players such as Greg Oden and Kevin Durant who might leave college for the NBA after their freshman seasons.

The Charlotte Bobcats and the Golden State Warriors were fined $15,000 each because of public comments Michael Jordan and the Don Nelson made recently.

The Boston Celtics were the other team that was fined but their infraction was much worse. The club was fined $30,000 because the team's executive director Danny Ainge talked to Durant's family at a Big 12 tournament game last weekend.

While Ainge said only pleasantries were talked about during the exchange, the NBA said that did not matter.

Rich Buchanan, the lawyer who wrote the memo, explained the matter this way.

"The prohibition against indirect contact (with players who still have college eligibility) includes, among other things, communications with a player's family members, representatives, or friends, and extends to any public comments made by team personnel regarding a player."

The Charlotte Bobcats have signed Alan Anderson from the NBA Development League?s Tulsa 66ers for the remainder of the 2006-07 season, Bobcats General Manager and Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff announced today. Anderson is the 17th GATORADE Call-Up this season and the third player to be called up from the 66ers this year.

The 6-6, 220-pound guard/forward averaged 15.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 36 games with Tulsa.  He is the second Bobcats player with D-League experience from this season.  Ryan Hollins was allocated to Fort Worth on Nov. 22, 2006 and called back on Dec. 18, 2006.

A member of the D-League Eastern Division All-Star team, Anderson reached double-figure scoring 19 times including a season-high 40 points against Sioux Falls on Jan. 27, 2007, where he connected on 12-of-18 from the field and 16-of-17 from the free-throw line.

On Friday, the Bobcats waived veteran Eric Williams, with the intention of bringing back Alan Anderson.

Williams had not appeared in any of the past four games and his future in Charlotte was non-existent. When the Bobcats dealt Melvin Ely to San Antonio, it was primarily to acquire a second-round pick.

Bobcats forward Sean May will sit out Friday night's game against the Clippers with a sore right knee.

May told team officials and trainers that he would not be able to play after the team's pregame shootaround, coach Bernie Bickerstaff said.

Charlotte Bobcats guard Brevin Knight accused a referee on Wednesday of bumping him in a game on Saturday and plans to appeal a $25,000 fine he received in connection with the incident.

Knight was fined for what the league called "verbal abuse of a game official and for failing to leave the court in a timely manner" at the end of Saturday's game against Memphis.

But Knight, who received a technical foul from referee Joe DeRosa early in the fourth quarter, said he was bumped by DeRosa.

"He made his trek from the other side of the court while I was beside the bench. He made contact and then he said to me, 'Oh, you're going to bump me,'" Knight said. "I said, 'You bumped into me.' So he gave me the tech."