Kobe Bryant will try not to wear a splint on his right index finger this season.  Bryant chose not to undergo surgery during the offseason due to the lengthy rehabilitation that would be necessary.

"If [the finger] gets whacked, maybe a game or so I'll have to put [the splint] on, but for the most part no," Bryant said. "I've been shooting without the tape. My shot feels a lot better. I can follow through with my fingers on the ball and get a better feel for it now than I did last year."

Kobe Bryant advised Carmelo Anthony to carefully weigh his options.

"We'll see if he signs a reasonable extension and if he's 100 percent happy that it's where he wants to go," Bryant told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday. "If not, don't make a move just to get out of the situation. ... Make sure it's a move that you're very happy in and you're comfortable with."

"I'm closer to him than anyone else from my Olympic team," Bryant said. "My advice is to do what he feels is right for him and his family. It starts there. He has to be happy with the situation that he is in because if your heart isn?t where it should be, it could have a half-ass effect. You don't want that. You can?t please everybody. You just have to do what's right for you."

Phil Jackson is now unsure if the 10-11 season will be his last as an NBA head coach.  Throughout the summer, Jackson suggested this would be his final season.

"I can?t tell," Jackson said with a grin at the Lakers? training complex. "Every year, I like to go into a season (thinking) this is it, putting everything into it."

Andrew Bynum said Saturday at the Lakers' media day that he won't be back playing in the regular season as soon as many in the organization thought.

Bynum had right knee surgery July 28, and is still recovering, unable to do anything during training camp.

"I see more towards the end of November," Bynum said. "The doctors are telling me this could be somewhere around there. There's no exact date."

Andrew Bynum's status for the start of the season is in question as he returns from offseason knee surgery.

?We?re hopeful that he?ll be ready for the start of the season,? Lakers spokesman John Black said Wednesday.

Black said there is ?an outside chance? that Bynum will be able to take part in the team?s final exhibition games Oct. 21 and 22.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed former NBA Development League guards Trey Johnson and Anthony Roberson for their training camp roster which opens next week according to multiple sources.  

The Lakers also signed center Russell Hicks to a training camp contract earlier this month.

The consensus across the league is that the Nuggets will trade Carmelo Anthony to New Jersey, New York, Chicago or one of the two Los Angeles teams, according to the NBA front-office source said.

The Nets currently are believed to have the most to offer in a trade with Denver.

A judge has approved a prosecutors' request for a delay to determine whether to bring domestic violence charges against Lakers swingman Matt Barnes, according to reports.

At Barnes' arraignment in Sacramento, the prosecutors' request for a delay until Oct. 18 was agreed to by the judge.

On Thursday, police responded to what was called an incomplete 911 call and discovered injuries to both Barnes and his fiancee, Gloria Govan.

Deputies arrested Barnes after determining him to be the primary aggressor. He posted a $50,000 bond and was released.

Matt Barnes was arrested on Wednesday on a domestic charge, but both of the involved parties claim Barnes is innocent.

"U know any domestic violence situation 9 outa 10 times the man gets arrested," Barnes wrote in a text message to Bryan May of News10, according to a report on the station's website. "That's the case here I was the victim but still got arrested. No matter what I say people are gonna think what they want..."

Laura M. Wright, a public relations executive, who says she represents both Barnes and his fiancee, released this statement on behalf of Govan:

"Any accusation of domestic violence are false. My fiancé, Matt Barnes, has never physically abused me or my family."

Lakers forward Ron Artest plans to auction his championship ring for the benefit of mental-health awareness.

"I'm never going to put it on," he said.

Artest plans to soon announce details of what he hopes will become a worldwide auction. He, along with his Los Angeles teammates, will receive the ring on Oct. 26 in a pre-game ceremony before the team opens the season against the Rockets.

"You work so hard to get a ring, and now you have a chance to help more people than just yourself, instead of just satisfying yourself," he said. "What's better than that? For me, this is very important."