Suns forward Antonio McDyess will be a free agent this summer and he would love to sign with the New Jersey Nets so he can play with Jason Kidd.

"That would be great, definitely would be great," said McDyess, who was traded to Phoenix Jan. 5 in the Stephon Marbury deal. "Who wouldn't want to play with Jason Kidd, who I'd say is the best point guard in the league? To play with him again would be great; to get up the court with him, getting easy baskets. It just makes things so much easier. It would be good if it ever happens."

PHOENIX (AP) The Phoenix Suns put newly acquired forward-center Keon Clark on the injured list Tuesday.

Clark, acquired from the Utah Jazz on Feb. 19, has missed most of the season after having surgery to remove a bone spur on his right ankle.

He has not played since Nov. 5, but averaged 2 points and 3.5 rebounds in two games for the Jazz this season.

"I like Phoenix," Bryant said Sunday before scoring 40 points to beat the Suns 104-92 at America West Arena. "It's peaceful. Relaxing. Whenever I've come here, everybody's been great."

Fans here like you, want you out here, a reporter says.

"Really?" Bryant said. "Really? That means a lot to me."

No statement Sunday was more telling than that one. The Lakers guard is a man who craves both loyalty and appreciation, which is why talk of Bryant playing for the Suns next season is gaining some legs.

The Suns can't say there's interest, but there's interest. Bryant, 25, is a player you build a franchise around, and he would be a mind-boggling complement to Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion. The team has been dumping salary, and after trading Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway, Suns Chairman Jerry Colangelo acknowledged it was to put the team in position to be a player in the free-agent market.

The fit would make sense for a variety of reasons. Bryant, who has had a strained relationship with Lakers coach Phil Jackson, would welcome playing for Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, whom Bryant once referred to as "my man, one of my first basketball heroes."

PHOENIX (AP) Forward Antonio McDyess was activated Friday by the Phoenix Suns, who also waived Ben Handlogten.

McDyess has been on the injured list for the last 15 games because of tendinitis in his left knee,

The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 1.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in four games after he was acquired from New York last month.

Handlogten, who was acquired from Utah on Thursday, is a 30-year-old NBA rookie who averaged 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds before he went down with a torn knee ligament on Dec. 26.

PHOENIX (AP) Tom Gugliotta came to the Phoenix Suns as a star forward who averaged 20 points a game in the previous two seasons. Nearly six years later, he left as a player who rarely got off the bench.

The Suns traded the one-time all-star to the Utah Jazz on Thursday for two injured players _ forward-centers Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten. The Jazz also got two conditional first-round draft picks, a 2005 second-round pick and an undisclosed amount of cash.

Gugliotta, who averaged 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 30 games this season, is earning $11.6 million in the final year of a six-year contract.

``This deal was clearly driven by the luxury tax,'' Suns president Bryan Colangelo said in a statement released by the team. ``The end result puts us comfortably under the expected tax threshold.''

As part of the trade, Phoenix will give up the least-favorable of its two first-round picks in the 2004 draft _ either its own or the selection it got from New York in a previous trade. The second conditional first-round pick also came from New York and is protected through 2010.

Clark, in his sixth NBA season, has not played since undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs in his right ankle on Nov. 24. Orlando selected Clark in the first round _ the 13th pick overall _ of the 1998 draft. He has averaged 8.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.62 blocks in six seasons with Denver, Toronto, Sacramento and Utah.

Handlogten is a 30-year-old NBA rookie who averaged 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds before he went down with a torn knee ligament on Dec. 26.

Gugliotta turned down a seven-year, $86 million offer to stay with Minnesota in January 1999 and signed a six-year, $58.5 million contract with Phoenix. Serious injuries and a near-death experience followed.

On the team bus inside the Rose Garden after a Dec. 17, 1999, game in Portland, Gugliotta suffered a seizure and stopped breathing twice. He may not have survived has his then-wife not told one of his teammates by cell phone that he had been taking a new nutritional supplement. Doctors believe that supplement caused the seizure.

A grateful Gugliotta returned to the team. But three months later, in a game against Utah, Gugliotta ruptured every ligament in his left knee. The injury knocked him off the 2000 Olympic team, and he hasn't been the same player since.

Gugliotta averaged 15.1 points in 97 games before undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds after it.

He sat out 44 games last season because of a stress fracture in his right foot. This season, his playing time diminished, then disappeared altogether as the Suns were dismantled in salary-cutting moves aimed at making money available for free agents next season.

Gugliotta, 34, did not practice with the Suns on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. He had said he would welcome a trade to Utah, a deal that had been rumored for weeks. He wanted more playing time, but didn't complain about his situation with the Suns.

``He was no problem,'' Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. ``You just hope it works out for him. The Suns are going in a different direction. This is by far better for him.''

The Suns went after Gugliotta six years ago after their frantic efforts to re-sign Antonio McDyess failed.

Ironically, a trade with the Knicks brought McDyess back to Phoenix. He too is a shadow of his former self after a severe knee injury.

``Man, that's the business you know,'' McDyess said. ``You never know what to expect.''

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The Utah Jazz sent injured players Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten to the Phoenix Suns for forward Tom Gugliotta a few hours before the NBA trading deadline Thursday.

Utah spokesman Kim Turner confirmed the trade; the Suns refused to comment. The Jazz lost to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.

Clark played in just two games this season before having right ankle surgery in November. Handlogten played only 17 games this season before tearing left knee ligaments in December.

Gugliotta, a 12-year veteran, earns $11.7 million under a contract that expires at the end of the season. He has been playing little the last few weeks, averaging 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds over the season.

The Orlando Magic have traded guard Gordan Giricek to the Utah Jazz inexchange for guard DeShawn Stevenson and a future second-round pick.

Apparently, the Jazz have also made another trade that will send forward Keon Clark and center Ben Handlogten to the Phoenix Suns inexchange for forward Tom Gugliotta and two first-round picks.

LOS ANGELES (AP) LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony were more than ready for prime time _ and their new buddy show was a smash hit.

James scored 33 points and hooked up with Anthony for four breathtaking alley-oop dunks that were the best moments in the sophomores' highlight-filled 142-118 victory in the Rookie Challenge on Friday night.

Though neither player was selected for Sunday's All-Star game, James and Anthony are arguably the NBA's most anticipated rookie duo since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird _ and in a game mercifully free of defense, they put on a show worthy of the hype.

In their only competition of the weekend, the 19-year-old prodigies were the main attractions on a rookie team going against a squad of second-year pros led by Yao Ming and MVP Amare Stoudemire, who had 36 points and 11 rebounds.

James' pairing with Anthony was so enticing that the NBA moved the game from its usual spot in All-Star Saturday festivities, giving it a prime-time slot Friday night before a sellout crowd at Staples Center. While James provided most of the gasp-inducing highlights, Anthony scored 17 points.

Stoudemire, last season's Rookie of the Year, made an incredible number of uncontested dunks. Carlos Boozer and Ronald Murray added 25 points apiece for the second-year pros, who made nearly 71 percent of their shots in the first half to turn it into a blowout.

But nobody cared: James, wearing gold-colored shoes that wouldn't be legal during the regular season, gave a performance that steadily got better after losing the opening tip to Yao, who barely jumped to swat the ball away from the 6-foot-8 James.

Rookies coach Doug Collins used James and Anthony in tandem during the first half, substituting them together and taking advantage of their teamwork. They needed less than four minutes to hook up on a spectacular play.

Anthony got loose on a fast break and served up an underhand alley-oop to James, who slammed it home to delirious cheers. They teamed up again 2{ minutes later, with Anthony throwing a longer pass for another emphatic slam by James.

Their third connection came with less than five minutes to play when Anthony dribbled under the hoop and tossed it up to James, who dunked from the other direction. They added one more in the final minute, when both teams abandoned any pretense of defense for an impromptu dunk contest.

James, who declined an invitation to participate in the real dunk contest, threw down a two-handed behind-the-head slam moments later _ and Anthony capped the game with a similar jam. After Stoudemire accepted his trophy, James tossed his new shoes into the crowd.

The dunk contest and the long-distance shootout won't be held until Saturday night, but dunks and 3-pointers were just about all the young players attempted during long stretches.

The sophomores led 72-59 at halftime, though Yao got jeered by his teammates after completely missing the basket support on a one-handed shot from halfcourt at the buzzer.

James scored 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the first half. Moments after halftime, James tossed a pass off the backboard to himself and rattled home a jam.

Though the game was sold out on the opening night of All-Star festivities, about half the lower bowl was empty as fans fought rush-hour traffic to make it to the game. The crowd got thinner up the building's four elevated levels, though it filled out nicely as the night progressed.

Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles native Baron Davis and rapper Jay-Z were among the celebrities who made it to the arena in time to see the showcase.