Jazz have their eyes on Bryant

LOS ANGELES — If all goes as planned, the Jazz this summer will wave wads of cash at Kobe Bryant — in hopes of luring the Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard to Utah.

The NBA forbids anyone in the Jazz organization from publicly discussing their specific free-agency plans while another team's player is still under contract.

But the Deseret Morning News has learned that Utah intends to use its ample space underneath the NBA's team-payroll salary cap to aggressively pursue Bryant — provided, that is, a couple of things fall into place:

• That Bryant indeed decides to opt out of his contract for next season, which he is permitted to do, and actually leave the Lakers, something that in the past week alone he has given rather mixed signals about doing.

• And that Bryant is cleared of the felony rape charge leveled against him in a Colorado sexual assault case — the outcome of which may not be known until right around the time NBA teams are allowed to begin wooing the league's free agents, in July.

Bryant — bound to be a focal point of tonight's NBA All-Star Game at the Staples Center, for which fans selected him as a Western Conference starter with more than 1.7 million votes — briefly addressed his off-court woes in advance of the league's midseason showcase event.

"You have to kind of block things out — things that are going on around you," he said. "That's why I can sit here in front of you guys (reporters) now and be calm."

As for talk that Bryant might leave the Lakers, speculation in L.A. has been anything but calm in the days leading up to tonight's game.

All season, and even dating back to the end of last season, Bryant has indicated he definitely will opt out of his contract, which pays him $14.625 million next season. Over the past week he dropped what were interpreted as hints suggesting he will not be back with the Lakers in 2004-05, but then he backpedaled — somewhat — from that stance Friday.

"I want to be a Laker for the rest of the my life. That hasn't changed," Bryant said. At the same time, the six-time All-Star and 2002 All-Star Game MVP said he still plans to opt out and test the free-agency market. Questioned about those potentially incongruent assertions, 25-year-old Bryant said it made sense to him:

"It's just about exploring options. That doesn't mean I want to go somewhere else."

Equally confused is fellow Lakers All-Star Shaquille O'Neal, who faces the prospect of Bryant and/or coach Phil Jackson leaving L.A. this summer.