The Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League have been assigned guard Jordan Farmar from their NBA affiliate, the Los Angeles Lakers. Farmar is the 24th NBA player assigned to a D-League affiliate this season.

Farmar, 6-2, 180, has played in 62 games this season for the Lakers and has averaged 4.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.  He was selected by the Lakers with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft.

?This is just what the Lakers had in mind for the D-Fenders.  It?s a chance to give the young guys some extra playing time and we are happy to be a part of that,? said D-Fenders Head Coach Dan Panaggio.  ?We hope Jordan will bring some leadership and added defensive punch to the D-Fenders line up.?

Farmar will wear jersey #2.

Phil Jackson, the head coach of nine NBA championship teams, has been named to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame, a league source said.

The new members won't be announced until Monday, but nominees who are elected are typically informed by Hall of Fame officials the Friday before the announcement takes place.

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni says the race for the NBA's Most Valuable Player still is between Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, despite reports of a third contender.

"Who's the third?" D'Antoni asked Wednesday.

"I love Kobe," D'Antoni said of Bryant, answering his own question. "I think Kobe is great. I just don't know if (the Lakers have) played well enough."

The Lakers were hoping to have Wednesday off, but after blowing a 15 point lead and eventually losing to Memphis 88-86, coach Phil Jackson announced that they would be practicing.

The thing is, it was not a normal practice.  According to the L.A. Times, the players did not even pick up a basketball.  All they had to do was stand.

And listen to their coach, Phil Jackson, tell them what he thought of their performance in losing to the Grizzles, a team with the worst record (18-54) in the NBA.

"I let them know it wasn't OK with me," Jackson said. "That's not the way we act [as far as] being a Laker, being a team headed for the playoffs. That's what the other teams that are out of the playoffs are doing. We are in a playoff drive and we have to step up our competitive level every night if we are going to meet the demands that are needed in a playoff.

"My problem is that when we get a few wins, we become lackadaisical. We haven't kept the same intensity. We will lose games, particularly to teams that have been under .500.

"We just can't take a night off as a basketball team and expect to win any games at this point?. I told [the players] that, by the nature of the game they played, I was disappointed. They should take themselves away from the game for a day and come back [Thursday] ready to play."

Kwame Brown doesn't really practice much, is limited in what he can do in games, and could eventually have surgery to repair his damaged left ankle, he said.

He did not play Tuesday against Memphis because he felt pain in the ankle during pregame warmups. Brown, who has seen doctors in Los Angeles and an ankle specialist in Indianapolis, will probably undergo another MRI exam today.

He thinks he knows what has to happen.

"I need surgery to make it better," he said. "Right after the season."

Lakers officials, however, want Brown to re-evaluate his situation after the season before going under the knife, a team spokesman said.

"There's not a whole lot of therapy that can take care of the needs that he's got or the position he's in," Coach Phil Jackson said. "But we believe that he can make it through the year."

Kobe Bryant, who is on the greatest scoring binge since Wilt Chamberlain, was named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the second straight week.

Bryant averaged a staggering 51.0 points in helping the Lakers to a 3-0 record. He became just the second player in history to score 50 or more points in four consecutive games, joining Chamberlain, who holds the record with seven set in 1961.

Bryant scored 60 points in a win at Memphis on Thursday and 50 in a road victory over the New Orleans Hornets. His streak ended with 43 points in Sunday's win over Golden State.

Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace won Eastern Conference honors. Wallace averaged 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.33 blocks and 1.33 steals in helping the Bobcats split four games.

Kobe Bryant scored 43 points in Sunday's win over the Warriors, breaking a five-game streak of recording at least 50 points.

Bryant scored 9 points in the opening two minutes of the ballgame.

"I mean, we heard it for the longest time," Jason Richardson said. "It's similar. A lot of people expect him to score 50. When you're in a zone like that, it just seems like you're not going to miss any shots you take. I watched the games ... and you can see it in his eyes, he's just focused right now."

Kobe Bryant is making 50-point games look routine.

Bryant finished with exactly 50, becoming only the second NBA player to hit that mark in four straight games and leading Los Angeles to a 111-105 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.

Bryant followed scoring totals of 65, 50 and 60 in his previous three games, all Lakers victories.

Only Wilt Chamberlain has exceeded that mark, scoring at least 50 points in seven consecutive games during the 1961-62 season.

Kobe Bryant has scored at least 50 points in three straight games, sinking two free throws at the 8:08 mark of the fourth quarter against Memphis to give him the honor.

Hitting form at the right time, Bryant has followed up on a 65 point performance against Portland on March 16 with 50 points against the Timberwolves two nights later, and now 60 against the Grizzlies on Thursday night, with the Lakers winning all three games.

The Lakers currently hold the seventh seed in the West.

Kobe Bryant angrily denied a story in Wednesday's Dallas Morning News claiming he had contacted University of Texas freshman star Kevin Durant at the direction of the Nike shoe company.

The story is vague about the source of the claim, saying, "Word is Kobe Bryant has already called Kevin Durant on behalf of Nike and that a shoe deal ranging between $30 million and $50 million simply needs to be presented."

Bryant responded after practice Wednesday at the Lakers' El Segundo training facility before boarding a plane for Memphis, where the Lakers will play the Grizzlies tonight.

""Don't print something that's just completely false," Bryant said. "That makes no sense whatsoever. It's really unprofessional.

"I've never spoken to [Durant]. I've never seen him. Obviously he's a phenomenal talent, watching him play on TV a couple of times. But I don't know him at all.

"I don't know where they got that story from, where they got that idea from or where they came up with that, but they might want to check their facts first."