Dallas, Chicago, Cleveland and the Lakers all made last-ditch efforts to acquire Kevin Garnett before losing out to Boston.

The Knicks were told last month that they didn?t have the assets to land Garnett, which has to be a bitter pill for Isiah Thomas to swallow.

Adding Kevin Garnett to Ray Allen and Paul Pierce is a coup for the Celtics, but it also figures to increase the likelihood that Kobe Bryant will step up his efforts to force his way out of Los Angeles, according to a source.

One more premier player getting traded, but not to the Lakers, means that "the Laker situation is only going to get worse," the person with knowledge of the situation said. "I'm sure Kobe's wondering, 'Why can't we do that? If Danny Ainge got it done, why can't we?'"

With the options to appease him dwindling, the next step for Bryant will be to threaten a training camp holdout and follow through on it by failing to show up when the Lakers open camp Oct. 8 in Hawaii.

The Lakers have signed Coby Karl, son of Nuggets coach George Karl.

A 6-foot-5 guard, Coby Karl averaged 12.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in five games for the Lakers 2007 Summer-Pro League team.

He averaged 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a senior at Boise State last season and was named first team All-WAC.

Not selected in this year's NBA draft, he returned to the court last month, just 2 1/2 months after having cancerous lymph nodes removed. It was his second bout with cancer in a little more than a year. He had his thyroid removed in 2006 and chemotherapy after his junior season at Boise State.

Karl recently said he believed the cancer was behind him.

Smush Parker is expecting to like Dwyane Wade more than he did Kobe Bryant.

"D-Wade is more of a people person than Kobe," Parker said of Bryant, his often-mercurial teammate. "I'm looking forward to jelling with Wade, and playing with him. He's going to be a great teammate."

Ernie Grunfeld continues to field offers for guard Juan Carlos Navarro, who recently negotiated out of his contract with FC Barcelona of the Spanish pro league. Barcelona informed Grunfeld that he has until the end of the week to trade Navarro. If a trade is not worked out, Barcelona will retain Navarro and his buyout with the team will go from $2 million to $14 million.

Miami is one of at least eight teams to express interest in Navarro but will likely drop out of negotiations after signing guard Smush Parker on Friday. According to a report, Parker's former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, could have interest in Navarro.

The Heat concluded its nearly month-long search for a veteran point guard Friday when it agreed to terms with guard Smush Parker, two sources said. Parker started most of the past two years for the Lakers before losing his starting job late last season.

Parker, 26, is believed to have agreed to a two-year contract for a portion of the Heat's $5.35 million mid-level exception. The deal is contingent on Parker passing a physical on Monday.

After three years, the NBA and ABC concluded the novelty has worn off Shaq vs. Kobe/Heat vs. Lakers on Christmas. Instead, word is the NBA will have the Heat play in Cleveland on Christmas, creating a Dwyane Wade vs. LeBron James matchup.

Though the schedule circulating is tentative, Heat-Cavs is expected to be one of two ABC games that day, a league source said. Miami is tentatively set to open at home against Detroit on November 1st.

In an interview with Today show's Matt Lauer, Derek Fisher said the little girl has undergone surgery and three rounds of chemotherapy for retinoblastoma, a rare and potentially deadly cancer of the eye. Three rounds, he said, was identified as the "best number at her age to stick with for now."
     
In the next few days, Fisher said, they'll find out how effective the treatments have been, before starting to "transition" to Los Angeles, where he's rejoined the Lakers and where the 1-year-old will continue to be examined until she's 44 months old. Fisher was told that age marks the end of the most dangerous period for the cancer.
     
Tatum's twin, Drew, is also routinely checked for the eye condition but has shown no sign of it.
     
During the six-minute television interview, Fisher conceded that the decision to walk away from his $20 million contract with the Jazz was probably easier because he's an established player. "I think that early in your career when you're trying to establish yourself, when you're trying to set up financial security for you and your family, it's more difficult," he said.
     
But the "sacrifices you make for your family" are part of learning "how to be a husband, how to be a father," he said. "You just work it out. I am committed to providing for my family the best way I can, no matter what it takes."

Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 6.6 seconds left, to lead the blue team to a 105-104 victory over the white Sunday as the United States closed its weekend minicamp with an intrasquad game.

Five months after he was the MVP of the All-Star game here, Bryant took over down the stretch in his long-awaited first game in a USA jersey. He scored seven points in the final 2 minutes, including a 3-pointer over LeBron James that tied the game at 101 after the blue trailed by double digits earlier in the fourth quarter.

"That was probably better than the All-Star game," point guard Jason Kidd said.

Bryant also forced James into a tough shot at the buzzer that missed.

"Today everybody got a chance to see what we've been going through in practice for the last couple of days," Bryant said. "It was just extremely competitive, everybody still having a good time and enjoying themselves but really going at each other."

This was the relaxed composure the Lakers so desperately wished Kobe Bryant could rediscover. Far from the emotionally charged critic he was two months ago, Bryant on Friday sounded fully supportive of his Lakers teammates and even endorsed the recent work of club management.

Nevertheless, an upbeat Bryant remained steadfastly unwilling to clarify where he stands regarding the Lakers. He did not offer reassurances that he does not want to be traded, and he did not dismiss the idea of refusing to report to October training camp.

Bryant?s basic sentiment was that it was inappropriate to focus on his individual situation when he was joining Team USA for the first time, but he did express regret over so vociferously shredding the Lakers organization in public comments early this offseason.

"I will say that it was my frustrations that prompted me to say what I said," Bryant explained. "If I had to go back and handle the situation differently, I would. The right thing to do now is just to handle it the right way going forward."