Phil Jackson spoke with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday in his virtual tour of cities and teams that want him to be their coach for the 2005-06 season and beyond.

"We had contact with Phil Jackson and are exploring all highly successful head coaches who are in a position to speak with us," Cavaliers vice president of communications Tad Carper said.

Jackson's agent, Chicago-based Todd Musburger, also confirmed the call.

"It was a lengthy and thorough conversation," he said. "It was very detailed.

"Phil will be taking the time he needs to make a decision. He will go through this entire process. It is a very important decision. He'll take the time he needs."

Musburger said Jackson isn't necessarily leaning toward returning to the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson led the Lakers to three NBA championships in his five seasons in Los Angeles. He left after the 2003-04 season and took a year off from coaching.

Cleveland may be a good fit for Jackson.  The team holds one of the best young talents the league has seen in a long time in LeBron James and perhaps Mr. James could be Jackson?s next Jordon.

Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson are scheduled to meet later this week, yet another indication that the former Lakers' coach will return to the Staples Center bench.

If Dr. Jerry Buss were to re-hire Jackson, Buss would likely do so only after a new NBA collective bargaining agreement with the players' association is reached. The current CBA expires in July.

Jackson may command as much as $10 million per season.  His previous contract was for five years at $30 million.

New York Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas will soon meet with former Knick player Phil Jackson to discuss his interest in becoming head coach.

Jackson boasts a .725 winning percentage along with  175 playoff wins is being courted by several NBA teams including Minnesota and Los Angeles to name a few.

Jackson recently attended a Lakers game with Dr. Jerry Buss and Kato Kaelin.

At his exit interview, Kobe Bryant was very candid about the Lakers' future, particulary about who may be their next head coach.

"Whether it's Larry Brown or Phil Jackson or whoever ? I don't care," he said. "I trust [management's] track record. They've proven themselves for so many years of being able to go out and get great people, get great coaching."

All eyes are on the Lakers after one of their worst seasons in the history of the organization and Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak is feeling the heat.

Mr. Kupchak considers ex-Laker coach Phil Jackson as an option to fill the Laker coaching void.

"[Jackson] has spoken to us," Kupchak said. "We've met with him on occasion. He was in our building a couple of times in the last two or three weeks. In fact, I was at my desk a week ago and he came in and sat down and we talked for about 45 minutes.

"The job has not been offered to anybody. At this point in time, I would characterize our relationship with Phil as casual. The interest, or the possibility remains, that he would be a coach for this team.

"The fact that he's in the building, attending games with our owner in his box, and stopped by to say hello to me, I think that indicates there's some interest there. What level of interest I really don't know."

The New York Daily News is reporting that Phil Jackson is leaning towards returning to the Los Angeles Lakers.

With Jeanie Buss still a top executive with the organization, Jackson has kept in close contact with her father Dr. Jerry Buss, the Lakers' owner.

If he does return, Kobe Bryant will likely make many concessions and Jackson will have more power than he ever did during his previous tenure at the Staples Center.

The Warriors came out looking like a playoff team, while the Lakers stepped onto the floor of the Oakland Coliseum looking like a horrible team that can't wait to finish the season.

Golden State beat the Lakers by a final score of 126-99.

Mickael Pietrus scored 25 points on 8-11 shooting, including 4 3-pointers.  Baron Davis had 24 points and 13 assists.

Kobe Bryant shot 9-27 from the floor, finishing with 22 points.

The Lakers were down by as many as 40 points during the 4th quarter.

Los Angeles Lakers center Vlade Divac has been suspended two games without pay for striking Dallas? Shawn Bradley in the head with an elbow, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Senior Vice President Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 9:47 remaining in the fourth period of the Lakers 114-112 loss to the Mavericks at STAPLES Center on Sunday. Divac will miss the Lakers game tonight at Golden State and Wednesday at Portland.

The Lakers will be forced to make a decision on the future of Caron Buter prior to October.  They have until then to sign him to an extension, or risk losing him when he becomes a restricted free-agent in the summer of 2006.

"Hopefully I'll be here," Butler said. "I really want to be here. I feel like it's a great situation. We'll see what happens. But I definitely want to be here.

"Anybody can get traded in this game," Butler said. "I saw Shaq get traded, saw Michael Jordan get fired [from the Washington Wizards' front office], I saw a lot of crazy things in this game. So anything can happen. But what I want to do is just continue to play hard and leave it all out there. We'll see what happens."

After mulling over whether or not to undergo a shoulder surgery that will keep him out for four months, Odom has finally decided to go through with it.

The surgery will repair a tear in the labrum of his left shoulder.

"Being an employee, I can't come back hurt [next season]," he said.

Odom said he wanted to leave enough time to rehabilitate "so I can help my team get out of this position we are in now, so we can never be in this position again."