O'Neal Wants Trade to Team Kobe

Jermaine O'Neal wants to be traded to the Lakers, and if the Pacers don't make it happen he'll bail on his contract at the end of the season, the Indy Star reports. The two clubs have sat down, but Indiana appears to be salivating over center Andrew Bynum, with whom the Lakers are unwilling to part.

The former prep-to-pro star says he'd also accept a move to New Jersey. Indiana is now indisputably staring down a rebuilding year, a prospect the championship-starved O'Neal dreads, but one the Pacers want him to play a major part in. "The expectations for the franchise and our fans is to receive fair market value in return if a trade is to be considered," a legalistic Larry Bird told reporters. (More Los Angeles Lakers stories.)