Kobe Bryant already has a no-trade clause in his contract, but Jim Buss said on Friday that he would never trade him anyways.

"I think about a lot of things to improve this team, to figure out how to manage the finances of it," said Jim Buss on Friday. "One thing I haven't thought of is Kobe being somewhere else. I don't know why that question has ever come up and I'd like to squish that one."

Jim Buss has become more involved in personnel decisions over the past few seasons.

"I might disagree with you that Kobe only has three or four years left, but we'll see," Buss said. "As you see, we make trades and our whole focus isn't to win a sixth (championship). I'm not sure I would stop there for Kobe; I would go to seven or eight if we can. ... I think Kobe is going to be a Laker for life and I'm pretty sure he's not going to hang them up after two years."

Buss also addressed how the NBA's new CBA impacts teams like the Lakers.

"The lockout had to do with what is fair is fair," Buss said. "The percentages weren't correct and teams were losing money. I think what happened with the lockout and the new CBA and the revenue sharing all at one time, it looks like it was pointed towards the Lakers, but nobody actually pointed their finger at the Lakers. We're a very successful organization. We make a good amount of money and the other teams lose money and we're an easy target to try to get that money.

"We fought tooth and nail to keep the flexibility to keep this going. Obviously, we lost to a certain degree because we have lost our flexibility to spend money. The revenue sharing was, in our mind, excessive but to other people it wasn't."

Sources say Jerry Reinsdorf was prepared to give the go-ahead for the Bulls to go deeper into the luxury tax if it meant acquiring Pau Gasol ahead of the deadline.

Chicago is also still interested in trading for Dwight Howard at a later date, according to sources.

The Warriors have begun talks with the Jazz on re-acquiring their first round pick.

“We think we can get our pick back,” said Joe Lacob while on KNBR Tuesday morning.

Larry Riley has been working for several months on acquiring a lottery pick.

One source said the Warriors would not likely need to give up a core player and would package their current picks as they own San Antonio's first and two in the second round.

If the Warriors have one of the top-7 picks, then no trade with the Jazz is necessary.

According to a report from Peter Vecsey of the New York Post, the Nets offered Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, Mehmet Okur's expiring contract and between two and three No. 1 picks in exchange for Dwight Howard.

Gerald Wallace would not have been included to the Magic as he was during the December trade talks.

The Nets, according to the report, also would not have had to take on the contract of Hedo Turkoglu.

Deron Williams said on Friday that he had no hard feelings toward Dwight Howard for choosing to remain with the Magic for the 12-13 season.

Williams had been hoping to become teammates with Howard, either with the Nets or possibly with the Mavericks.

"He made the decision that he thought was best for him,'' Williams said of Howard. "I can’t be mad about that.''

DeShawn Stevenson said Williams did seem to be bothered by the day's events on the Nets' flight down to Orlando.

"I think 'D-Will' was kind of disappointed,'' Stevenson said of Williams. "He probably said he wasn’t, but I saw it in his face. He was kind of disappointed with that whole ordeal.''

Williams said that unlike Howard, he hasn't struggled with considering his options.

"I’m not (struggling),'' he said. "You know why? Because I said the whole year, 'I’m going to play this year out and see what happens.' So I haven’t flip-flopped and gone back and forth. I'm just the same me. It’s not even close to being the same situation.''

Following Milwaukee's acquisition of Monta Ellis, the Nets offered a trade of Brook Lopez, according to Ric Bucher while on KNBR Radio.

The Bucks turned down that trade and decided to keep Ellis.

Ellis is known to be a player Dwight Howard wants to play with.

The Warriors could have traded Brandon Rush, Kwame Brown and a second round pick to the Hornets for Chris Kaman, according to Ric Bucher while on KNBR Radio.

Golden State could have then had a chance to evaluate how Kaman played with a core of Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry and David Lee.

The Warriors instead traded Monta Ellis in a deal for Andrew Bogut.

Bryan Colangelo spoke to the media about the activity of the Raptors on trade deadline day, which included trading Leandro Barbosa and remaining committed to preserving their cap space.

"We concluded we would only do it if it made sense for both sides," said Colangelo of consulting with Barbosa.

Colangelo said the trade "allows the team to open up a tremndous amount of flexibility" during the beginning of the pre-draft stage of the calendar.

Colangelo also said it allows the team to fully evaluate their personnel, specifically Jerryd Bayless and Gary Forbes.

Danny Ainge worked on a variety of trade scenarios both big and small, but was unable to execute a deal.

"I guess what prevented any trade was making at least two teams in a deal happy, or satisfied that a deal was worthwhile," said Ainge. "But as late as 2:57, there was still trades that were possible and being negotiated. We were close to handful of different types of trades -- small to bigger -- that just couldn’t be resolved. That happens often." 

Ainge was asked if his approach to trade was that of a buyer or seller.

"I was looking at both opportunities, to strengthen our team for the playoff run this year and/or build some chips and some assets for future. We actually had a lot of conversation on both sides, but nothing seemed good enough to do." 

The Lakers were minutes away from acquiring Michael Beasley, but Minnesota owner Glen Taylor blocked an agreed upon three-team trade before the deadline, according to a source.

Portland also would have been involved with Derek Fisher and Jamal Crawford being other trade components.

The Lakers responded by agreeing to trade Fisher to the Rockets.