Lakers trade may stir other teams into action



THE FIRST shoe has dropped.

The Los Angeles Lakers dropped a bombshell Friday, out of nowhere trading for Memphis' Pau Gasol for a couple of expiring contracts, a couple of draft picks and a box of stamped envelopes.

The expectation is that the now-loaded Lakers will now contend for a title, as acquiring the Grizzlies' All-Star post only cost the Lakers beleaguered power forward Kwame Brown, rookie point guard Javaris Crittendon and two future late-first round picks. This one move, this act of highway robbery, likely puts the rest of the Western conference hopefuls into panic mode.

Gasol forming a Big Three with Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum — not to mention a superior supporting cast of point guards Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar, and forwards Lamar Odom, Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza — has to cause concern for Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio, and maybe even Utah. The pressure is on them to keep up with the Los Angeles Lakers, who were formidable before the trade.

Dallas may be more inclined to go hard after New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd, who figures to fill one of the Mavericks' few weaknesses, a dominant point guard.

According to ESPN, Kidd confirmed recently that his agent did ask the Nets to trade him, which started the countdown for his departure. It certainly won't be easy to get him.

"You don't give assets away," Nets GM Rod Thorn told the Bergen County (N.J.) Record. "It has to make sense. On a basketball team you don't have many assets. You're talking about an All-Star, an Olympian and, when he puts his mind to it, he's a heck of a player."

How much more likely is Dallas or Houston to up their offer now that Gasol is in Los Angeles? The Spurs, who have been dealing with injuries most of the year, are sitting on $20.8million in expiring contracts, the largest being swingman Brent Barry's $5.5 million. Think they aren't seriously considering how to parlay that trade-deadline currency into some depth and athleticism? And you know Phoenix, which isn't as dominant as in years past, has to be getting nervous.

There's another All-Star caliber player rumored to be on the trading block: Sacramento's Ron Artest. Last week, he stirred the pot with comments about leaving the Kings.

"I look around our team," Artest told the Sacramento Bee, "and I see the emerging young stars, and I don't get the sense that I'm going to be around. I don't have a real commitment from the Kings, and it might just be time to move on."

Geoff Petrie, Kings president of basketball operations, didn't exactly refute Artest's comments.

"Everybody knows the trading deadline is coming up," Petrie told the Bee. "Like I've said before, we're not averse to trading anybody if it benefits us in some way and our future, and I think (Artest) is comfortable with that."

Teams such as Denver and Golden State, both of whom like Artest, might be more willing to take a risk on the dramatic star now that the Lakers have raised the stakes, especially since either team could very well find itself left out of the super-tight race for the Western Conference playoffs.

In getting Gasol, the Lakers did more than announce themselves as serious contenders in the West. They sounded the alarm for the rest of the West.

See more at www.insidebayarea.com