The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping to keep their top-3 protected lottery pick for the 2016 draft but they won't lose games on purpose to do so.

If the Lakers finish with the NBA's second worst record, they would have a 55.83% chance of keeping the pick on lottery night — a 19.9% shot at the No. 1 pick, 18.81% at No. 2 and 17.12% at the third pick.

“You don’t go out there trying to lose basketball games,” he said Wednesday. “I think that’s a bad way to present that to your team, ‘We’re trying to lose so we can protect the top-three pick.’ That’s a bad omen to me.

“It sets a bad precedent to me, especially this organization and the people that’s been in this organization for a long time and understand what this organization is all about, we’ve never been like that and never will be. So I would never, even behind closed doors, tell my players, tell my coaches, tell my trainers or anybody that we were trying to lose games on purpose to protect the pick.”

Scott continued to elaborate on his thought process.

“I’m not coaching, looking at the clock, going, ‘All right, man, if we can just turn it over a few more times and miss a few more shots, this game is in the bag as far as a loss is concerned.’ That’s not me,” he said. “We’re trying to win every game and trying to build something with the young guys that we have here.”

Kent Bazemore was a bench player for the Golden State Warriors before he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers where he was able to showcase his abilities.

“Selfishly, if I wanted to play 30 minutes a night and wanted a role in the NBA, I wouldn’t change anything: I needed to leave the Warriors,” Bazemore told The Vertical recently in an extended profile. “I looked at leaving Golden State as my chance to grow up. I was stuck behind Steph [Curry], behind Klay [Thompson] and Harrison [Barnes]. I was so young, man. I’ve grown so much, having the experience of playing in the playoffs, playing for a really competitive team. Coach Sullivan had me watching my shots before I came, and when we first met, he told me he was going to alter everything. I showed up every day and we broke it all the way down: shooting with three fingers, one-handed shooting, finding my balance.

“A couple years in, my confidence is up and I don’t mind shooting the ball from everywhere. I understand how to get a shot off or getting my feet set before the ball comes. I know how important that is now.”

Bazemore's two-and-a-half months in early 2014 playing for Mike D'Antoni led to a two-year, $4 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks.

“That season with the Lakers was a savior,” Bazemore told The Vertical. “Every time I see someone from the front office with Golden State and every time I see D’Antoni … I give them a big hug. D’Antoni allowed me to showcase myself. I was a guy at the end of the bench in Golden State and did well in the D-League, but that isn’t enough to get you a solidified job in the league.

“I don’t know where I’d be right now.”

Bazemore will be a free agent again this offseason.

D'Angelo Russell will start for the Los Angeles Lakers for the remainder of the season.

Russell was moved to the bench two and a half months ago.

"It was just time," Byron Scott said when asked why he moved Russell back to the starting lineup.

"Each month he has seemed to get better," Scott continued. "He's really starting to understand what this game is all about. He still needs to pick it up at times. Obviously on both ends he needs to continue to work, but I like what I saw [Sunday], and I like what I've been seeing from him over the last couple months."

Russell has a PER of 16.3 in February and 13.1 for the season.

"I just want to get better," Russell said. "Coach always said, you've always got something to play for no matter how many games we've got left. However many games we've got left, I feel like I've still got something to prove.

"And I don't want anybody to take it the wrong way, but you feel like your best players are your starters. And I feel like I'm going to keep the confidence and say that I'm one of the best players, so I feel like I just want to keep proving that I deserve to start, deserve to be out there and play crunch time minutes.

"With these last few games, I want to show that I have to be out there, like build that trust with my coach that he has to put me on the floor."

Russell likes the opportunity to play alongside Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle.

"We can grow. We can play a lot tighter," Russell said. "There's a time when you can learn from each other as far as when one or them or myself mess up, we can figure out how to grow or we can watch film together. We should've done it earlier in the year, but I guess we were caught up in different ways. We can really take this time to grow together."

Kobe Bryant had the opportunity to join the Chicago Bulls in 2004 as a free agent and again was linked to them in 2007 when he seeking a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant said he "very much" thought he had a chance of joining the Bulls in 2004.

"My wife and I were actually planning travel arrangements to come out to Chicago and look at some homes and schools and things like that," Bryant said. "Then once [Shaquille O'Neal] demanded a trade, it was like, 'There's no way they're going to trade me anywhere.' The sign-and-trade option just pretty much went off the table. "

Bryant later added: "So if I was fortunate enough to come here, if that trade had happened and I'd be here, it's not a pressure situation to live up to what he's done. It's more, can I carry on this man's legacy? Can I do it justice? Can I represent Chicago the way that it should be represented in his honor? Just a tremendous, tremendous amount of influence."

The Lakers and Bulls agreed to the framework of a trade in 2007 but Bryant exercised his no trade clause because Chicago was giving up Luol Deng.

Adrian Wojnarowski doesn't believe the Los Angeles Lakers are a legitimate potential free agent destination for Kevin Durant.

Wojnarowski's reporting has indicated the Golden State Warriors are the favorites for Durant should he decide to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder. Stephen A. Smith has reported about the possibility of the Lakers being in play for Durant.

"The Lakers are not front-runners for Kevin Durant, he wants to win a championship," said Wojnarowski. "If he leaves Oklahoma, he may end up staying there and I've written that. Golden State is a team that is worrisome for Oklahoma City -- that's a team that has Kevin Durant's attention. Kevin Durant wants to win a championship right away and either he wants to do that in Oklahoma City with the group they have or he's going to go somewhere where he can win a title right away.

"Kevin Durant doesn't care if they have the first pick, the second pick, third pick; no free agent cares. No free agent of his stature cares what draft pick a team has because that guy is not going to help them win championships in the next two or three years. And if Kevin Durant leaves Oklahoma, he wants to be ready to win a championship right away. He's at a point in his career where he cant wait two or three years and hope that it happens. I think part of his criteria, sources tell me, will be, 'Is that team good enough to beat Golden State with me on it? Or is it Golden State? Or can I stay in Oklahoma and continue to be able to do that and compete for a championship?

"Listen, I just don't think that the Lakers are a real significant factor for Kevin Durant."

Mitch Kupchak said the Los Angeles Lakers have received "an awful lot of interest in our young players."

D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle comprise the Lakers' young core along with Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.

Kupchak said it's "unlikely" the Lakers complete a trade before Thursday's deadline.

The Lakers figure to have significant cap space in the offseason with the expiring contracts of Kobe Bryant and Roy Hibbert and the rising cap.

When it comes to whether Byron Scott will return as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers for the third season of his contract in 16-17, the franchise "seems torn."

Scott is expected to coach the Lakers for at least the remainder of the current season. There are some who wonder if Scott will do better with a better roster.

The Lakers have parted with Mike Brown and Mike D'Antoni before their contracts expired.

Scott is in the second season of a four-year, $17 million contract.

The majority of NBA owners are in favor of including advertisements on game uniforms following discussions at the All-Star Game.

The NBA is considering making the change before the 17-18 season when their Nike deal begins. A formal vote will be conducted at a later date.

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the few teams opposed to the initiative.

Brian Shaw played a significant role in broaching a peace between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 2003.

When Bryant was accused of rape in Colorado, he mentioned to investigators how O'Neal would pay women to keep quiet about their encounters.

O'Neal waited for Bryant in the parking lot, telling teammates that he was going to "[expletive] him up."

Shaw had recently retired and was called upon by Phil Jackson, Mitch Kupchak and several Lakers to help.

Shaw brought Karl Malone, Gary Payton and Horace Grant to the meeting, "because if Shaq had actually went after Kobe, I wouldn't have been able to hold him back," says Shaw.

"If they were able to get along from the beginning, you know, who knows how many championships they would have won?" Shaw said. "That was the best 1-2 punch that I've ever seen."

"We always had mutual respect. That was always there," Bryant said of O'Neal. "As years progressed, our relationship grew and grew and we're still friendly toward each other. It's always been civil, but when you put two guys in the locker room every single day, you have complete differences on how you should get there, training or whatever, with me, and him, you're going to have confrontations. Absolutely, you're going to have confrontations. But when you go your separate ways, you only see each other once every whatever, it's great."

Russell Westbrook was asked if he'd like to play for the Los Angeles Lakers in response to him saying they were his favorite team growing up.

"Nah, I like where I am now. Oklahoma City is a great place for me," said Westbrook.

A recent report from Stephen A. Smith indicated the Lakers have been led to believe they will have a chance to sign Kevin Durant and Westbrook in the future.

Westbrook will be a free agent in 2017, while Durant can be a free agent in 2016.