The Charlotte Observer reported for Wednesday's editions that the Clippers will trade forward Melvin Ely ($1.75 milion) and guard Eddie House ($825,000) to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats for future second-round draft picks.

That brings LA's total cap space to the neighberhood of 14 million, just enough to sign Kobe Bryant to the max or very close to it (106 million over 6 years).

The stage is now set for the crosstown rival Clippers to steal Kobe away from the Lakers.  

In other news, the Lakers decided to put off sending Shaquille O'neal to the Miami Heat for now, claiming they did not realize that Lamar Odom had a trade kicker in his contract.