The Lakers decided Wednesday not to give restricted guard Jordan Farmar a one-year, $3-million qualifying offer.

Farmar will become an unrestricted free agent.

"The Lakers cared enough to let me become a free agent," Farmar said in a phone interview. "I was excited to hear it. I was real happy. If I do decide to leave, I'll have nothing but positive things to remember about the Lakers."

For several months, Andrew Bynum has been mentioned in trade rumors.

All of which are "ridiculous" insinuations, according to a source familiar with the thinking of the Lakers' front office.

If the Lakers are unable to retain Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar, they are interested in signing a point guard such as Steve Blake, Luke Ridnour or Earl Watson.

The Lakers would like to retain Fisher for next season, but at a reduced salary, while Fisher will be hoping for a contract similar to the $5 million he made this past season.

Brian Shaw is close to accepting the head coaching job of the Cavaliers, according to his agent Jerome Stanley.

Shaw has been an assistant with the Lakers for several seasons.

RealGM Note: Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer reports that an agreement to bring Shaw aboard is "not close."

A source close to Byron Scott said discussions for him to take over the job have not moved forward.

Amar'e Stoudemire's agent will have "further conversations" with the Suns prior to the start of free agency.

Most likely, the Suns' only hope of keeping Stoudemire is to make him a maximum-salary contract offer, which still may not be enough.  Steve Kerr and David Griffin are out of the loop while owner Robert Sarver and Alvin Gentry handle the meeting with Stoudemire in Los Angeles.

Byron Scott has interviewed twice for the Cavaliers' head coaching position and said the team expects to make a decision by Thursday's start of free agency.

"I?m not sitting and waiting on Phil Jackson," Scott said about the possibility that Jackson could retire, leaving the Lakers' job available to him. "That ain?t me. I?m not waiting on anybody."

Scott hasn?t spoken to James but people in his camp communicated to the coach that there is a "50-50" chance that James will return to the Cavs.

"He?s a loyal guy.  He wants to win," said Scott.

"I would coach there without LeBron," Scott said. "But they got a good shot at getting him back. Without him, they would probably go from 60 wins to 30 wins. But [without James], it?s still a better job than when I first started in New Jersey, and it?s still a better job than when I first started in New Orleans."

Lakers guard Shannon Brown will opt out of his contract and hit the free agent market, his agent confirmed on Sunday night.

Brown signed a two-year, $4.139 million deal with the Lakers last offseason.

"My guess is he's probably going to become a free agent," agent Mark Bartelstein told the Los Angeles Times.

Phil Jackson says that Nuggets coach George Karl's struggles with cancer last season will influence his decision on whether or not he'll return to the Lakers.

Jackson was the headline speaker Sunday at a meeting of Western governors in Montana.

He told reporters after his speech that he's waiting to hear from doctors on whether he's healthy enough to make it through another season.

Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw has been given permission by the team to meet with the Cavaliers about their vacant head coaching position.

Shaw has been with Los Angeles for the last nine seasons (four as a player and five as an assistant).

If Shaw accepts the job in Cleveland, he would subtract from the pool of candidates to replace Phil Jackson should he opt to retire.

Kobe Bryant said he would likely have surgery on his finger when he returned from watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

"I'm going to talk with our staff here and [Lakers general manager] Mitch [Kupchak] as well and come up with a timeline to take care of some of the injuries that have been nagging me and things we need to address," Bryant said. "We'll do that before I leave."

Bryant was also bothered during the season by his twice-surgically repaired right knee but said it wasn't really an issue after he got it drained during the playoffs.

"The finger [was the problem]," Bryant said. "The knee was fine. Once we drained the knee it was fine or fine enough. The finger though was a constant problem. It was always around. I had to take the wrap around my entire finger and the hard splint underneath it so feeling the basketball was really tough. It was always a constant battle to adjust to it."