Lakers' vice president Magic Johnson said the deal between Chicago and the Lakers involving Kobe Bryant isn't going to happen, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
"A deal can't get done because they won't include [Luol] Deng," Johnson said Tuesday on TNT. "And without Deng, a deal can't get done."
Johnson also hinted that talks of bringing Indiana Pacers' All-Star Jermaine O'Neal to the Lakers to join Bryant have resurfaced.
Johnson said the Bulls and Lakers could not put together a trade that would satisfy the league's money requirement for such a deal. The total salaries of the players sent to Los Angeles for Bryant must be within 15 percent of the $19 million Bryant will make this season.
A source close to the Phoenix Suns shot down a rumored three-team deal that would've had the Bulls landing Bryant, Gordon and the Suns' Shawn Marion going to the Lakers and a package of Tyrus Thomas and other considerations heading to Phoenix.
The Suns' source said the team would be interested in discussing such a deal but that Phoenix last talked trade with the Lakers for Bryant some 10 days ago, and the conversation went nowhere.
Mark Bartelstein, the Chicago-based agent for P.J. Brown, said he had not been contacted by the Bulls or any other team to facilitate a sign-and-trade deal for the former Bulls' forward to help match money for a Bryant trade.