The Los Angeles D-Fenders, a D-League team, have hired Luke Walton as a player development coach, it was announced today by team President/CEO Joey Buss.

“We are very excited to add Luke to our staff,” said Buss. “His championship experience will help build upon the winning culture that has been established with the D-Fenders. His extensive and successful NBA career will allow him to instill the work ethic it requires for our players to reach the NBA.”

“Luke has been a consummate professional throughout his career,” said D-Fenders General Manager Nick Mazzella. “Having played on two Lakers championship teams, Luke is aware of the hard work and type of culture required to win. He will be a valuable mentor to our players and will dedicate himself to improving their basketball skills and advancing their careers. We couldn’t be happier to have him join our talented coaching staff.”

Walton has spent the last 11 seasons playing in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Most recently, he appeared in 50 games with the Cavaliers during the 2012-13 season. The University of Arizona alumnus was selected with the 32nd overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Lakers and helped lead the team to back-to-back NBA Championships in 2009 and 2010. Walton has appeared in 564 career regular season games (138 starts), posting averages of 4.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 17.2 minutes. Walton also served as an assistant coach on the University of Memphis basketball staff during the 2011 NBA lockout.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to the Lakers family,” said Walton. “I’m looking forward to working with the staff to develop young talent that can benefit the D-Fenders and the NBA. The D-Fenders have a proven record of developing top-flight players, and I plan to continue that tradition.”

Walton, a San Diego native, begins his first season as a player development coach. He is the third addition to Head Coach Bob MacKinnon’s staff, joining assistant coaches Casey Owens and Thomas Scott.

You never know what you have until it’s gone. Or someting like that. Here’s the Los Angeles Daily News Blog reporting:

“I love Kobe Bryant. I consider him like my son,” Jackson told Seth Davis in an interview aired on Campusinsiders.com. I consider him as someone who I had a tense relationship with, but something that has mellowed through the course of the years.”

Still, Jackson hardly avoided uncomfortable topics surrounding Bryant in his interview with Davis.

Jackson noted how Bryant’s thirst for scoring often made him a difficult teammate. He acknowledged asking the Lakers’ front office to trade Bryant during his first stint with the Lakers Jackson even admitted that Bryant’s eventually dismissed sexual assault charge in 2003 tainted his view toward his player partly because his daughter was an assault victim while dating an athlete in college.

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived forward Marcus Landry, it was announced today.

Landry, a 6-7 forward out of Wisconsin, has spent time over the past three years with the Maine Red Claws and Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League and internationally with teams in Spain, China, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. During his two seasons (2010-11 and 2012-13) with the Bighorns, Landry played in 84 games (83 starts) averaging 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 36.0 minutes.

Signing with the New York Knicks as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2009, Landry played for both the Knicks and Celtics during the 2009-10 campaign averaging 2.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.1 minutes over 18 games.

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native appeared in six preseason games for the Lakers, averaging 4.0 points and 1.2 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per game.

The Lakers roster now stands at 15 players.

Which kind of pace does D’Antoni envision the Lakers running this season?

“It won’t be crazy,” he said, “but we want to push it and get a nice pace. We want to get some easy buckets before the defense sets up, so we’ll be up in the top five probably in pace, but it won’t be breakneck speed.”

Playing at a faster tempo seems to be more of an option this season because the team got younger and more athletic with the additions of Nick Young, Jordan Farmar and Wesley Johnson.

“I think we have to utilize our wings, their speed and athleticism,” forward Pau Gasol said, “but not too much faster than we did last year because I think we still have to play at somewhat of a controlled pace and a pace that everybody’s comfortable with.”

Reported by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers had the Lakers’ championship banners covered and had his players’ banners draped over them instead at Staples Center.

Rivers said it will be done whenever it’s the Clippers’ home game in the arena they share with the Lakers.

The Lakers have 12 championship banners — Minneapolis has its five titles on one banner — and 10 retired jerseys, including Chick Hearn’s microphone retired jersey.

“Well, I didn’t look at it as the banner thing,” Rivers maintained. “I just look at it as putting our guys up.”

Rivers had the banners of Jamal Crawford, Blake Griffin, J.J. Redick, DeAndre Jordan, Jared Dudley, Chris Paul and Matt Barnes all put up on the wall.

Reported by Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times

Carmelo Anthony reiterated that he wants it all: He wants to be a Knick for life, yet he also wants NBA teams — the Lakers, really — to court him when he becomes a free agent on July 1.

The Melo-drama Part II is under way in the wake of Anthony confirming that he plans to opt out of his contract next summer and become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career. And for the first time, Anthony hinted that it is a two-team race between the Knicks and Lakers.

When asked about the long-held belief that the Lakers would pursue him, Anthony said: “What other team would they say? I don’t think they would say any other team. If you look at situations, that’s the only team that they probably would say.”

The Lakers will have cap space, and Anthony is close to Kobe Bryant. Also, Anthony owns a home in Los Angeles, and his wife, La La, is a working actress in Hollywood. Needless to say, if Anthony leaves the Knicks, it won’t be for a small market team.

Reported by Frank Isola of the New York Daily News

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived guard Darius Johnson-Odom, it was announced today.

Johnson-Odom, the 55th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, was originally acquired by the Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks on draft night. The 6-2 guard out of Marquette appeared in four games for the Lakers last season, where he totaled four rebounds and one assist in six minutes. Johnson-Odom also played in 13 games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders where he averaged 21.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 39.8 minutes. After being waived by the Lakers in January, the Raleigh, North Carolina native spent the remainder of the 2012-13 season playing in Russia for BC Spartak Saint Petersburg. Johnson-Odom then proceeded to participate in the 2013 NBA Summer League games in Orlando and Las Vegas as a member of the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets.

Signed by the Lakers in September, Johnson-Odom played in three games this preseason, averaging 3.7 points, 0.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 8.2 minutes.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 16 players.

“Everybody’s saying I was a ‘coward’ for leaving [the Lakers], and I knew I was going to get that,” [Dwight] Howard said Tuesday. “But I think with the situation I had to do what was best for Dwight.

“I know when I wanted to leave Orlando, and I decided to stay, I wasn’t happy on the inside. I wanted to please everybody else and ended up hurting a lot of people by doing it the way I did. So, this time it’s like I had a second chance.

“I said, ‘You know what? People are going to hate me for whatever reason, so I can’t allow that to stop me from making my decision.’ I thought that my decision took a lot of guts because everybody’s saying, ‘How could you leave the Lakers and six billion fans?’ But I don’t care about being an outcast or about being somebody that may look bad. All I’ve got to do is win now, and I’m in the right situation.”

Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel

The Lakers went to the Great Wall on Sunday afternoon, a two-hour trek on a charter bus that started on the bustling streets of China’s capital, continued along a narrow two-way road near a quaint Chinese village with farmers pushing wheelbarrows, and ended at the Mutianyu portion of the Wall.

Two days before their exhibition game here, the Lakers didn’t go to the more popular Badaling or Juyongguan sections of the historic site, eschewing the crowds and amusement park-like environments for more solitude. Or so they thought.

Crowds immediately formed as they disembarked from their shuttle buses. Players were shepherded along by a dozen guards wearing black hats, white gloves and “RISK CONTROL” on their shirt sleeves.

Then the Lakers went up a thin pock-marked path that wound through a hundred kiosks and overzealous vendors. Scores of passers-by thrust out scraps of paper and begged players to take photos.

An elderly vendor yelled “Paulo, Paulo,” and proclaimed, “Big, big size” as he held out an extra-large T-shirt to Pau Gasol that said, “I climbed the Great Wall.”

Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Just as he spent nearly his entire summer trying to become healthy, Steve Nash has suffered another ailment that he’ll have to monitor.

The Lakers point guard missed the final three quarters of the team’s 104-86 preseason loss Thursday to the Sacramento Kings at MGM Grand Garden Arena because of a sore left ankle after struggling loosen it up during pre-game warmups. Nash described the injury as a “minor thing,” though Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni suggested it could linger throughout the season.

“I’m not concerned,” D’Antoni said. “I think this will happen on and off on all year. But he’s going to give you a good season and good stuff. But we have to take care of him.”

Nash estimated initially feeling pain in his left ankle either a week or two before training camp started Sept. 28, an injury he said had since improved after initially being limited in practices.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Gasol and Kaman were an effective duo for spurts of the Lakers’ 104-86 exhibition loss to the Sacramento Kings at MGM Grand Garden Arena, displaying a dynamic skill set that suggested there is enough room on the court for both 7-footers.

Gasol twice fed Kaman with alley-oop passes that resulted in layups … in the game’s first seven minutes. Kaman was constantly in motion, knowing Gasol’s proclivity for finding teammates in favorable spots.

“Pau makes it easy for everybody because he’s such a good passer and playmaker for other people,” said Kaman, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds to complement Gasol’s 13 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Reported by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times

Although Kobe Bryant is making steady progress in his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon, he’s still a few weeks away from playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant is back with the Lakers after a short trip to Germany to get treatment on his right knee, another trouble area for the 35-year-old guard. He sat on Los Angeles’ bench for an exhibition game Tuesday night, and he’ll travel with the team to China later this week.

But the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history isn’t committing to any return date until he gets in shape and figures out how his legs will hold up when he’s back in uniform.

“I haven’t said anything (about a return date),” Bryant said. “I just keep it all open right now. I don’t know why you guys are so hell-bent on deadlines. It’s like the most ridiculous thing to me. It’s entertaining. When I’m ready, I’m ready.”

Reported by the Associated Press

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived Eric Boateng and Dan Gadzuric, it was announced today.

Boateng, a free agent center out of Arizona State University, has split time over the last three seasons playing for the Idaho Stampede and the Austin Toros of the NBA’s Development League in addition to playing internationally for the Greek Basket League team Peristeri and the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig in Germany. The 6-10 center, who played one year (2005-06) at Duke before transferring to Arizona State University (2007-10), finished his collegiate career averaging 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.8 minutes over 116 games. Born in London, Boateng is also a member of the Great Britain national basketball team.

A ten-year NBA veteran, Gadzuric spent the 2012-13 season playing with Marinos de Anzoátegui in Venezuela. In 30 games with the team he averaged 10.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 19.4 minutes. Selected in the second round (34th overall) by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2002 NBA Draft, the 6-11 center out of UCLA has played in 527 career NBA games with Milwaukee, Golden State, New Jersey (now Brooklyn), Toronto and New York, averaging 4.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 14.8 minutes.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 17 players.

As they moved around the court in what marked their first time playing together in a competitive game, Pau Gasol and Chris Kaman became mirror images of each other.

They both played pick-and-roll. They facilitated up top. They posted down low.

Never did they do this at the same time. Instead, they fulfilled that job description by playing off one another. Add up all the ingredients in the Lakers’ 90-88 preseason victory Monday against the Denver Nuggets at Citizens Business Bank Arena. And it’s clear that both Gasol and Kaman won’t have problems working together.

They combined for 26 points on 11 of 22 shooting and 15 rebounds in nearly 24 minutes of work, leaving the two eager to pepper each other with compliments on why the chemistry instantly clicked.

Gasol praised Kaman’s mid-range jumper and spacing.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

The current Lakers roster, minus the services of Kobe Bryant, has little chance of doing anything big this upcoming NBA season.

The roster with Kobe active… well, still not likely to do much and will face a very uphill battle simply qualifying for the playoffs, but they’ll certainly be more competitive and interesting to watch.

Here’s the latest on Kobe’s health:

Bryant, 35, is still recovering from surgery on his ruptured Achilles tendon. There is no firm timetable for his return, but he has been able to do some light jogging and set shooting during the first week of training camp.

“Just keep grinding. Keep working hard and getting better,” Bryant said of his Achilles rehab Tuesday in a courtside interview with Time Warner Cable during the Lakers’ 90-88 preseason win over the Denver Nuggets. “I gotta get in shape, too. I’ve been sitting on my butt now for a while. I gotta get up and get moving.”

He previously said it’s too soon to know whether it will be possible to play by the Lakers’ season opener against the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 29 but that he’s trying to get back as soon as possible.

Reported by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles

The NBA is better with Kobe on the court. Hopefully he’s back in action soon.

With Kobe Bryant (temporarily) some 6,000 miles away in Germany and Dwight Howard (permanently) some 1,500 miles away in Houston, Pau Gasol had plenty of room to operate on the court for the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

Gasol had 13 shot attempts in 23 minutes in the Lakers’ 97-88 loss to the Denver Nuggets. While he didn’t shoot the ball all that well (4-for-13 for 13 points) in his preseason debut and the first organized game he’s played in more than five months, just the sheer amount of touches was a welcome change for the 13-year veteran.

“I think that’s a good indication of how much liberty and how much my teammates also trust me to make plays and make shots and then, when the defense collapses, find them,” Gasol said after the game.

It was also a far cry from last season, when he was often positioned at the elbow to create space for Howard, while Bryant was left cajoling Gasol to buck the system for his own benefit.

Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles

Nothing appears will stop Xavier Henry from trying to prove he’s worthy of cracking the Lakers’ roster.

The team divulged he suffered a moderately sprained right wrist during the Lakers’ 97-88 preseason loss Sunday to the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center. But both Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni and Henry downplayed the severity of the injury.

D’Antoni revealed Henry had been nursing the injury for “a couple weeks,” apparently hurting the injury during a pick-up game before training cap began eight days ago. Henry said the pain simply worsened because he “fell on it hard” Sunday during an undisclosed play.

“I’m okay,” Henry said.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

The Lakers are holding out hope that it’s nothing serious, but forward Wesley Johnson will undergo an MRI Monday after straining his left foot in the Lakers’ 97-88 preseason loss Sunday to the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center.

Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said Johnson experienced a “burning sensation” in his foot, but it seems unclear what caused the injury.

“He doesn’t know,” D’Antoni said.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Kobe Bryant is heading overseas to have a medical procedure unrelated to the torn Achilles tendon he sustained in April.

The Los Angeles Lakers said Thursday that Bryant is expected to return early next week.

He went to Germany twice in 2011 for a procedure on his sore right knee and a sore left ankle that bothered him at the time.

The Los Angeles Times on Thursday cited people with knowledge of the situation as saying that Bryant was going to Germany this time. He was having a knee procedure that involves removing blood from the affected area and spinning it in a centrifuge. Molecules that cause inflammatory responses are then removed to create a serum that is injected back into the affected area.

Reported by the Associated Press

Recovery from Orthokine or Regenokine is typically quick compared to more severe knee procedures and does not add to Bryant’s recovery time from a torn Achilles’ tendon, which remains the larger issue. His availability for the Lakers’ Oct. 29 season opener against the Clippers is still unclear.

Bryant plans to have only his knee treated but will get other areas examined as well. His Achilles’ will not be part of the treatment, a Lakers spokesman said.

Orthokine targets proteins or molecules called interleukin that cause inflammatory responses. Blood is taken from a patient’s affected area and spun in a centrifuge to create a serum that is injected back into the targeted area.

Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Five days into the Los Angeles Lakers’ training camp, Kobe Bryant took the court for the first time Wednesday.

Bryant didn’t practice with his teammates and the Lakers continue to avoid providing a timetable for their star guard’s return, but just seeing Bryant do some light jogging and set shooting was a sight for sore eyes for coach Mike D’Antoni.

“He just keeps progressing,” D’Antoni said. “He was out today shooting a little bit and jogging. He just keeps getting better.”

It was a minor step for Bryant, who has been sidelined from basketball activity since April as he rehabilitates a torn Achilles in his left leg, yet a significant one.

Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles