Kobe Bryant walked slowly into the locker room, sighed and stopped instead of continuing to his locker to meet reporters.

"I don't want to have to walk all the way over there," Bryant said.

Bryant was exhausted. His 58 points in 55 minutes were offset by two key errors in the third overtime, and the Charlotte Bobcats outlasted the Los Angeles Lakers 133-124 on Friday night.

"I don't want to have to do that," Bryant said of his big scoring night. "It's too tiring."

Bryant spoiled the third-highest point total of his career by committing a foul on Derek Anderson's 3-point attempt with 1:14 left. Anderson hit all three free throws to give Charlotte a 129-124 lead.

Disabled Player Exceptions (DPE) that were granted by the NBA League Office to the Lakers and Blazers this month will expire on Friday.

DPE?s allow teams to acquire a single player via a trade or free agent signing when they have lost a player for the season due to medical reasons.

The Lakers were granted a $2.1 million exception due to an ankle injury that has forced Chris Mihm to miss the entire season.

The Blazers received a DPE just under $4 million after losing Darius Miles for the season with microfracture surgery.

The Atlanta Hawks today signed veteran free agent forward/center Stanislav ?Slava? Medvedenko, according to Hawks? Executive Vice President/General Manager Billy Knight. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Medvedenko spent six years with the Los Angeles Lakers (2000-06), averaging 5.4 ppg and 2.9 rpg in 249 career games (.451 FG%, .732 FT%). He enjoyed his best season in 2003-04, when he put in 8.3 ppg and 5.0 rpg over 68 contests (.441 FG%, .767 FT%). The native of Kiev, Ukraine owns two NBA championship rings (2001, 2002) from his time with the Lakers, and was a teammate of Hawks guard Tyronn Lue in L.A. in 2000-01.

Answering a question about Kobe Bryant's work ethic Sunday, Phil Jackson said the only great player he coached who didn't like to work was Shaquille O'Neal.

''I know [Heat coach] Pat [ Riley] got him working in Miami, but we had a hard time getting him to work,'' Jackson said.

O'Neal had a quick response for his former coach.

''How can Benedict Arnold be reliable in what he says?'' O'Neal said after the Heat's 101-85 victory over the Lakers on Monday.

O'Neal's turncoat statement was in reference of Jackson leaving Los Angeles the same season as O'Neal, only to return a year later and coach the Bryant-led Lakers.

Reporters questioned the work ethic of Kobe Bryant to Phil Jackson and the Lakers' head coach gave an unsolicited reply about one of his former players.

''The only person I ever had that hasn't been a worker the fortunate time I've been coaching is probably Shaq,'' Jackson said. ``He's the one guy that didn't like to work. I know Pat [Riley] got him working in Miami, but we had a hard time getting him to work. All the other players, Michael [Jordan], Scottie [Pippen], Dennis Rodman, all those guys that we had, Horace Grant, they were all hard workers in practice. And I've had some more players. I think Kobe has just picked up from that type of energy we like to demonstrate as a team. He wants to lead.''

Dwyane Wade scored 40 points to go with his 11 assists in Miami's 101-85 win over the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant, who was battling sickness, went 4-17 from the floor to finish with just 16 points.

Kobe Bryant recently spoke with Dan Le Batard and waxed on life, Shaq and helicopters.

"Not being able to work out the relationship with Shaquille O'Neal," said Bryant about his biggest basketball-related regret.  "We accomplished so much together. It's a shame that it ended on a sour note. There was a lot that played into that situation, but if I had to do it over again, I'd communicate better. I'd initiate more of the conversation.

"I'm looking into buying a helicopter, for example. It's going to eliminate traffic. It'll take me only 15 minutes to get to games."

Slava Medvedenko, former big man for the Los Angeles Lakers, went through a private workout for the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

"We liked him in the workout," said general manager Billy Knight. "Tyronn Lue and Zaza Pachulia know him. Lue has played with him, and we always reference those things with our guys. So all of the things we saw with him are good and positive."

The Hawks roster is currently filled, so the club would be required to waive a player in order to sign Medvendenko.

The Los Angeles Lakers nominated nine-time NBA champion Phil Jackson for the Hall Of Fame on Tuesday, ESPN is reporting.

"I was made aware of it," Jackson said Tuesday, "and yet still have some physical issues that I still have to think about before I really embrace that possibility. But it's an honor to be thought about."

The Hall will announce its 24 finalists for the Class of 2007 on Feb. 16, during NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas. The finalists will be voted on by the 24-member honors committee; 18 votes are needed for induction.

On Tuesday, Kobe Bryant said he considered joining the Chicago Bulls in 2004.

"We were looking at houses, we were looking at schools. We already were talking about a sign-and-trade," said Bryant. "I liked the Bulls' direction."

Bulls sources confirm Bryant's agent did ask the Bulls if they would agree to a sign-and-trade deal, and Bryant sent word he would approach the Lakers to make the deal or threaten to leave for nothing.

A few days later Shaquille O'Neal requested a trade and Bryant eventually re-signed with the Lakers.