The Lakers have reached out to Gilbert Arenas, according to a source close to the situation. Arenas is currently a free agent.

The source also said Arenas, a former Los Angeles-area high school standout, was interested in signing with the Lakers.

Arenas averaged eight points on 34.4 percent shooting in 49 games with the Magic last season.

Chauncey Billups reached out to free agent Kenyon Martin recently to let him know that the Clippers have interest in his services. When asked to reveal Martin’s thoughts on joining the Clippers, Billups hinted the interest was mutual.

"I'll let him tell y'all that," Billups said with a smile.

The Clippers have the mini mid-level exception for $2.5 million as well as two trade exceptions, one for $3.8 million and another for $2.7 million that were acquired in their deal for Chris Paul. Martin can sign with an NBA team as soon as the team he signed with in China, the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers, completes its season.

"He's very valuable," Billups said of Martin. "Of course, he comes from winning stock. He's been to the [NBA] Finals twice. He has great ability. He is a leader. One thing I know about Kenyon, he's a winner. He'll do whatever it takes to win. He's one of the great one-on-one defensive players for a big man I've played with. And, contrary to what everybody believes, he's a really good dude."

According to an NBA source, the Celtics would be interested in Chris Kaman if the impending free agent is bought out of his contract.

The Hornets have told Kaman to stay home while they try to orchestrate a trade. They acquired Kaman in the trade for Chris Paul last month but have decided to go with younger players.

Kaman has averaged 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 22 minutes per game before the Hornets decided to put him on the block.

The Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks are pursuing free-agent forward Kenyon Martin, according to league sources.

Martin has spoken with executives from each of the clubs and is hoping to make his decision next week.

Martin signed a $2.6 million deal with Xinjiang during the lockout, but left the team in late December in hopes of returning to the NBA.

The Philadelphia 76ers announced that they have signed Francisco Elson. With the addition of Elson, the Sixers roster now stands at 14.

“We are happy to pick up Francisco Elson, a veteran big man who can help bolster our front court,” Rod Thorn said.

Elson (7-0, 240) has appeared in 467 games with 149 starts while averaging 3.7 points (47.8% FGs, 70.0% FTs) and 3.5 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game.

Eric Gordon remains a central figure in the Hornets' long term plans, even though he turned down a four-year extension offer from the club, New Orleans general manager Dell Demps said.

"It's a situation where we talked, thought we came close to an agreement and it just didn't work out, but we are still very optimistic we can get something done this summer," Demps said. "It's not a big issue. It's not a situation that is uncommon. ... There are other measures that you can use to sign Eric to a long-term contract and that's our goal."

The Hornets currently are owned by the NBA, meaning commissioner David Stern, who is temporarily acting in the role of team owner, had the final say in what kind of deal the Hornets could offer Gordon.

"We were authorized to make a deal, we had conversations that were productive, and although we didn't come to an agreement, the talks were amicable," Demps said.

Brook Lopez would have preferred to be involved in any discussions that led to the Nets’ decision not to extend his contract.

“It does include me,” Lopez said with a shrug after the Nets made official on Wednesday what they had indicated for some time — they did not extend the fourth-season center while also not picking up the third year option on Damion James, moves intended to keep as much cap space as possible for a free agent run at Dwight Howard.

“I understand it I suppose from a business standpoint,” Lopez said. “But yeah, I think it’s disappointing because I’d like to be here.”

The Knicks made a commitment to combo guard Toney Douglas on Wednesday, exercising the final-year option on his rookie contract, preventing him from becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.

“I took it as a positive,’’ said Douglas. “I guess they want me to be here.’’

After weeks of negotiations that included talks throughout the day on Wednesday, the Blazers and Nicolas Batum's agent, Bouna Ndiaye, could not find middle ground, guaranteeing that Batum will become a free agent after this season.

Ndiaye says Batum will explore every available opportunity on the market.

"They say they love him but they didn't offer him something fair, so that's it," Ndiaye said. "We tried and there's no deal. On July 1 we're going to look at the market first before we come back to the Blazers. That's for sure."

Dwight Howard might be interested in signing with the Celtics this summer.

“Always. Always,” Howard said. “I’d always listen to a team like that.”

Howard said his primary goal is to win a championship.

“My thing is I want to win,” Howard said. “It’s not something like I’m doing this for money. I win. I want to do it my way.

“The first thing is basketball. I want to win a championship, and it takes a certain type of team to win a championship. You know, there’s a lot of teams who are great during the regular season. They play well, but it’s different once you play in those playoffs, you know? It’s gut-check time.

“Like I told the Magic, I just want to win. I don’t want a team that doesn’t know how you have to win in the playoffs. I want a team that’s going to go out every night and forget about stats, forget about who scores the most points or who is the fan favorite. Just go out and play, play for each other and play to win. That’s the only thing.”