The Lakers are looking to keep both Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf in town, according to The Los Angeles Times.

They don't have the cap space to sign any big-name players, but the Lakers still want to retain both Vujacic and Turiaf. They are both restricted free agents, meaning L.A. can match any offer sheet they sign with another team.

"A lot of it's going to depend on the progress we make with Sasha and Ronny," Kupchak said of what other moves they might make. "I think we feel if we can bring those two players back, and we get Trevor [Ariza] and Andrew [Bynum] back, we'd be happy going into training camp with that group. If we run into a roadblock . . . then we'll have to look in other directions."

Kobe Bryant is taking the high road and will not respond to the sledging handed to him by former teammate Shaquille O'Neal in a recent rap, the L.A. Times are reporting.

"I didn't take it any kind of way whatsoever," Bryant said Saturday, before declining to take any more questions on the topic.

Ron Artest will exercise his Kings' option to become a free agent, according to Pete Vecsey of the New York Post.

He also reports that the Lakers, Spurs, and Mavericks are the teams that will be most interested in him.

Shaquille O'Neal has been asked to give his special deputy's badge because of the language used to mock former teammate Kobe Bryant in a rap video recently, the Associated Press is reporting.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the Phoenix Suns center's use of a racially derogatory word and other foul language left him no choice. Arpaio made Shaq a special deputy in 2006 and promoted him to colonel of his largely ceremonial posse later that year.

"I want his two badges back," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told The Associated Press on Tuesday, "because if any one of my deputies did something like this, they're fired. I don't condone this type of racial conduct."

Kobe Bryant decided to put off surgery on his injured hand in order to play for the United States at the Olympics in Beijing later this summer, according to The Orange County Register.

Doctors confirmed that surgery is absolutely necessary.

Bryant will have the procedure after the Olympics, which might put his participation in the Lakers' training camp prior to the 2008-09 season in jeopardy.

"There never was any doubt about Kobe being involved, God-willing," said Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of the USA Men?s Senior Basketball Team.

It looks as though Shaquille O'Neal is not quite over the rift with former Laker teammate Kobe Bryant, according to a report on ESPN.

Video on TMZ.com shows O'Neal doing a freestyle rap in a nightclub on Sunday night in which he puts down Bryant.

"You know how I be," Shaq rapped. "Last week Kobe couldn't do without me."

He also implored the crowd to sing along to his oft-repeated chorus: "Kobe [expletive], tell me how my [expletive] tastes."

Smiling and laughing often, O'Neal also sang that Bryant broke up his marriage.

"I'm a horse. Kobe ratted me out," he rapped. "That's why I'm getting divorced. He said Shaq gave a [woman] a mil. I don't do that 'cause my name's Shaquille. I love 'em, I don't leave 'em. I got a vasectomy, now I can't breed 'em."

Reached by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith on Monday, O'Neal issued the following statement: "I was freestyling. That's all. It was all done in fun. Nothing serious whatsoever. That is what MC's do. They freestyle when called upon. I'm totally cool with Kobe. No issue at all. And by the way, don't forget, six albums, two platinum, two gold. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a funny freestyler. Check the NBA DVD when I was rapping about Vlade Divac during my first championship run. Please tell everybody don't make something out of nothing."

Trevor Ariza will be back with the Lakers next season after exercising his player option, the Associated Press is reporting.

The Lakers may be back with the same players next season, but with Andrew Bynum expected to be back and healthy, they will have a new look, the L.A. Times is reporting.

"If and when [Andrew Bynum] is back, which we anticipate, it will be a different team entirely," Jackson said.

If Lamar Odom is still with the team, he'll most likely move from power forward to small forward, with Pau Gasol moving from center to power forward.

Another option, GM Mitch Kupchak said, would be to play Odom at the shooting guard position and play Kobe Bryant at the three.

"It could be the longest and biggest frontcourt in the NBA in many, many years," Kupchak said.

"It is a team that would be very talented, very long, and versatile, and I think training camp would be an important time to test out what [Jackson] has done during the summer."

It's obvious that the Lakers need to make some adjustments following their disappointing loss to the Celtics in the Finals, and Dave D'Alessandro of the Star-Ledger believes Richard Jefferson might help solve their problems.

Assuming that Lamar Odom is the odd man out, Los Angeles could trade the forward to New Jersey for a package that includes Jefferson.

The teams can not agree to a one-for-one swap under the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, though, because Odom's contract expires next season, and Jefferson has three years and nearly $43 million owed to him.

Pau Gasol insists that things will be a little different for the Lakers next season, according to The Orange County Register.

He claims that he will keep the memory of the team's Game Five victory in his mind this offseason.

"I'm definitely going to keep these feelings because it wasn't pleasant to see all the Boston fans go crazy on us after the game and hitting the bus and all that crap. It's just something I'm going to keep in mind all year long until we get there again," he said.

Fans in L.A. cheered immediately for Gasol upon his arrival midseason but have blamed him for the team's collapse in the Finals against Boston.

"You play a good game and you're the king of the world," he said. "You don't play a good game, then all of a sudden you're soft and you didn't play well, and it's your fault."