Gary Payton is complaining about the playing time given to him by Lakers coach Phil Jackson. With the ability to opt out of his contract in the offseason, Payton may want to take his services elsewhere if he doesn't agree with the team's philosophy.

"I don't get it, but that's the way it is," Payton said. "This is his team. He's got to coach it the way he's going to coach it. Then I have to deal with it and I'll make a decision where I'll go from there.

"I've got to weigh a lot of things. Do I want to go back to being the guy I want to be, dominating on the ball, getting more looks, helping the team win? I'll weigh all that in the thing. I've got to go to a coach that's going to let me do that or whatever. I'm going to have to weigh it in at the end of the year, if I want to come back and try that. But right now, I'm not comfortable with that."

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) A man was charged with repeatedly threatening to kill Kobe Bryant's accuser and the prosecutor in the sexual assault case.

Cedric Vaughn Augustine was arrested by police and federal agents Thursday, and was held without bail in the city jail, police Sgt. Paul LeBaron said.

Augustine, 37, was charged Wednesday in a Denver federal grand jury indictment with 26 counts of attempted extortion, making interstate threats, making a threat using the U.S. mail and threats to use fire or explosives, FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said authorities hope the investigation will ``dissuade others from similar behavior.'' Two other men previously were charged with making threats against Bryant's accuser.

Federal authorities contend Augustine called Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert on July 18, the day Bryant was charged with sexual assault. Augustine allegedly left a message on an answering machine saying: ``Anything happens to Kobe, something will happen to you. ... We will hunt you down.''

The next day, prosecutors said, Augustine threatened in a telephone message to shoot Bryant's accuser. More threats were made in September and October, the indictment said, including a letter sent to the prosecutor Sept. 18 that stated: ``We are coming to kill her and her family.''

It could not immediately be determined whether Augustine had a lawyer.

John Roche Jr., a former student at the University of Iowa, pleaded guilty to leaving a profanity-laced death threat in July on the accuser's answering machine. Roche faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

In another case, Swiss national Patrick Graber is accused of offering to kill Bryant's accuser for $3 million. He remains in custody awaiting trial.

Bryant, 25, is accused of raping a 19-year-old woman who worked at a hotel near Vail, Colo., where he stayed June 30. He faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if convicted.

Bryant has said he had consensual sex with the woman. No trial date has been set.

LOS ANGELES (AP) Days after insisting he wants to be a Laker for life, Kobe Bryant says he'll consider the Denver Nuggets among free-agent suitors.

Shaquille O'Neal publicly chastises general manager Mitch Kupchak.

Just another typical day for the NBA's glamour team.

``Some of the things you call distractions aren't really distractions to us. I've been through it for seven years,'' O'Neal said.

``We don't have a choice,'' Bryant said. ``You just deal with it. You don't complain, you don't whine about it. You come to work, work hard and try to improve.''

The Lakers (36-20) have shown improvement recently, having won seven of nine entering a four-game road trip beginning Saturday in Washington.

No surprise there, considering Bryant and O'Neal have returned after injuries prompted lengthy stints on the sidelines, leaving Karl Malone as the only missing ingredient.

And he's expected to return within a couple weeks.

But a 112-111 victory in Denver and a 103-101 loss to visiting Sacramento again revealed a major shortcoming _ defense.

Denver rookie Carmelo Anthony and Sacramento veterans Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby were virtually unstoppable, and both the Nuggets and Kings made countless uncontested shots.

Only Bryant's brilliance kept both games close.

``We lost it on the defensive end,'' Bryant said following Thursday night's loss to the Kings. ``The offense will come and go. In this kind of game, you really need to get stops, and we didn't.''

While still the NBA's dominant inside player, O'Neal doesn't appear as mobile as he did during the championship years of 2000-2002.

Gary Payton may be called ``The Glove'' for his ability to stifle an opponent on the defensive end, but at age 35 he's at least a step slower than before.

Bibby exploited that shortcoming, consistently getting wide-open shots.

But these aren't the playoffs, and that's where the Lakers have excelled in recent years except for last season.

``They're probably going to be the team to beat when they get all those guys together, and they proved that early in the year,'' Kings coach Rick Adelman said. ``Shaq and Kobe are the keys. If those two guys are healthy and playing well, they can beat anybody.

``Once they get everybody back and playing together, they're going to get on a roll.''

The Lakers were on a roll until Malone hurt his right knee Dec. 21 _ an injury that proved more serious than first believed.

When Malone and Payton signed as free agents last summer, the Lakers were all but crowned champions despite the fact that Bryant faces sexual assault charges stemming from what he claimed to be consensual sex with a 19-year-old Colorado woman in June.

The long-standing Shaq-Kobe feud resurfaced shortly before the season began, but was quickly forgotten as the Lakers started 18-3 including three victories over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.

The dynamics changed significantly shortly thereafter when Malone was injured. Within three weeks, O'Neal and Bryant were also on the sidelines, leaving the likes of Jamal Sampson, Ime Udoka and Maurice Carter playing in crunch time on occasion.

The good thing about the injuries was the opportunity it gave such reserves as rookies Luke Walton and Brian Cook along with Slava Medvedenko and Kareem Rush, who have all been impressive at times.

The chaos continued after Bryant and O'Neal healed. The Lakers announced before the All-Star break that negotiations to extend coach Phil Jackson's contract had broken off and wouldn't be resumed until after the season.

The contract expires July 1 _ the same day Bryant will be eligible to opt out of his contract.

O'Neal has been negotiating a contract extension for several months with no resolution.

``If I was general manager, with a team like this, there'd be no problems,'' O'Neal said recently. ``No problems with the Diesel, no problems with the coach, no problems with the Kobester, no problems with the owner.''

One can only wonder what's next, but veteran Rick Fox, for one, is optimistic.

``It'll all work its way out in the month of March,'' he said.

DENVER (AP) The 19-year-old woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape will testify next week for the first time in the case, and prosecutors asked a judge Friday to strictly limit what defense attorneys can ask her.

The woman is scheduled to testify behind closed doors Tuesday at a hearing that will help determine whether her sexual conduct before the June 30 encounter with Bryant can be used against her at trial.

Bryant, 25, is charged with sexually assaulting the woman at a mountain resort near Vail where she worked and he was a guest last June. He has said the two had consensual sex.

Prosecutor Dana Easter accused Bryant's attorneys of trying to get around Colorado's strict ``rape shield'' law, which generally bars defense attorneys from using such details against alleged assault victims.

The law only allows exceptions for evidence such as semen or pregnancy that suggest someone other than a defendant attacked the alleged victim.

``The defense ... intends to humiliate and embarrass her with allegations of conduct which have no bearing on this case whatsoever,'' Easter wrote. ``It is a humiliating fishing expedition which the prosecution seeks to prevent.''

Easter said the woman has already been subject to death threats and that her life has been disrupted by personal information published around the world and by defense investigators questioning her friends.

A California man was arrested Thursday on charges that he made profanity-laced death threats against the woman and the lead prosecutor in the case. The indictment said Cedric Augustine, 37, began making the threats the day Bryant was charged in July, and continued through mid-November.

In a July 18 phone message left at District Attorney Mark Hurlbert's office, Augustine allegedly said, ``Anything happens to Kobe, something will happen to you. We will hunt you down.''

The next day, Augustine threatened in a telephone message to shoot Bryant's accuser, prosecutors said. On Sept. 18, he allegedly sent a letter to Hurlbert stating, ``We are coming to kill her and her family.''

A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Friday that Augustine will be detained in California until at least Tuesday, when another hearing will be held on whether he should be granted bail.

Augustine is the third person arrested for allegedly making threats in the case.

Bryant's accuser has told police she had consensual sex with another man two days before her encounter with Bryant.

The NBA star's attorneys have said that underwear she wore to a sexual assault examination the day after she and Bryant were together had another man's semen in them, and that the nurse examiner found pubic hair that did not come from Bryant.

NEW YORK (AP) The NBA acknowledged Thursday there was an officiating mistake in the final minute of the Los Angeles Lakers' 112-111 victory over the host Denver Nuggets.

With the Nuggets leading Wednesday night's game 111-109, a shot by Denver's Andre Miller appeared to brush the rim and barely beat the shot clock. Teammate Carmelo Anthony got the rebound, but the whistle blew for a shot-clock violation. The officials huddled and ruled it was an inadvertent whistle, resulting in a jump ball.

The Lakers won the tip, leading to Kareem Rush's winning 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left.

NBA senior vice president Stu Jackson said there shouldn't have been a whistle on the play.

``That call was incorrect because the ball, in fact, hit the rim,'' Jackson said. ``This was an unfortunate call at a highly critical point in the game, and we very much regret the error.''

The National Basketball Referees Association said the league suspended referee Michael Henderson for three games and summoned him to New York for a meeting with league officials.

The group said the referee had followed NBA guidelines in making his call, but made a mistake.

``Yet rather than a traditional fine, the NBA is out-of-bounds in its actions,'' said Lamell McMorris of the NBRA.

Speaking before the Lakers faced the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night, coach Phil Jackson maintained that Miller's shot didn't hit the rim and Anthony fouled Kobe Bryant as he got the rebound.

``You just see the ball disappear below the rim,'' Jackson said. ``I've never heard of a decision like that rendered by the league office.''

A league spokesman could not immediately be reached to comment on the NBRA's statement.

DENVER (AP) Kobe Bryant's attorneys will get a chance next week to tell a judge why they should be able to use the accuser's sexual history against her at the basketball star's sexual assault trial.

State Judge Terry Ruckriegle said Tuesday that attorneys should be prepared during the two-day hearing that begins Monday to discuss whether the information is relevant to the case.

The defense has argued the 19-year-old woman had sex with two other men in the days before her June 30 encounter with Bryant at the hotel near Vail where she worked. They say those men may have caused injuries found by a nurse who examined the woman the next day.

Under Colorado's rape-shield law, Bryant's attorneys would be able to present evidence about the alleged victim's sexual past only if the judge determines it is relevant.

Bryant, 25, faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation if convicted of felony sexual assault. The Los Angeles Lakers star has said the woman consented to have sex with him.

The judge said he has reviewed information submitted by Bryant's attorneys and believes it is enough to justify a hearing. To determine whether the information is relevant, he said, he will need to hear specific evidence about the woman's sexual activity.

For that reason, he said, the hearing will largely be held behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, District Attorney Mark Hurlbert announced that he will run for re-election, even as he prosecutes Bryant.

It would be his first four-year term. The 35-year-old Republican was appointed in 2002 to replace Democrat Mike Goodbee, who left for the state attorney general's office.

``I decided to run because, although I have accomplished a lot in the short time I have been district attorney, I still feel there's more I can accomplish and benefit the people of Eagle County,'' Hurlbert said Monday.

VAIL, Colo. (AP) The district attorney prosecuting NBA star Kobe Bryant on a sexual assault charge will run for re-election while the case proceeds.

District Attorney Mark Hurlbert was appointed by Gov. Bill Owens in 2002. The Republican announced his plans Monday to seek another term in the district that includes Eagle, Summit, Lake and Clear Creek counties.

``Although I have accomplished a lot in the short time I have been district attorney, I still feel there's more I can accomplish and benefit the people of Eagle County,'' Hurlbert said.

Bryant was accused last July of raping a resort worker. The Los Angeles Lakers guard says the sex was consensual.

``We're getting bigger cases, such as the Bryant case,'' Hurlbert said. ``You need someone with experience and that is where I fit in.''

Hurlbert began his career in Eagle County in 1994 as a deputy district attorney. For now, he faces no GOP opponent. Debbie Marquez, a chairwoman of the Eagle County Democratic Party, said she expected a Democrat to run.

"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."

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Shaquille O'Neal is being sued by a Tampa Bay promotions company for allegedly reneging on an agreement to participate in charity events.

Paramount Celebrity Management filed suit Friday in Orange County Circuit Court for more than $5.6 million.

``Had he showed, this would've been an annual event,'' Robert N. Reynolds, the attorney representing Paramount, said Saturday.

Messages left with O'Neal's representatives in Los Angeles were not returned Saturday. The Lakers refer non-basketball inquiries to the player's representatives.

At the time, O'Neal's representatives told the Lakers he was hospitalized in Orlando with a 103-degree temperature the night before the events began.

This is the second suit filed against O'Neal this month. A Daytona Beach Harley-Davidson dealership claims O'Neal refused to pay for a custom-made motorcycle.

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Lakers activated forward Brian Cook from the injured list Friday.

Cook broke a bone in the pinkie finger of his right hand against Dallas on Jan. 22 and missed 12 games.

Cook, the Lakers' first-round draft pick out of Illinois, has averaged 6.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 18.8 minutes in 13 games this season.