Bulls insist no deal imminent for Bryant

And on Thursday, the Lakers finally felt a mild breeze of tranquillity, thanks to a strong issuance out of the Windy City.

Chicago Bulls General Manager John Paxson ended the notion that Kobe Bryant would be dealt to Chicago, halting the unchecked speculation that a deal was close to being completed.

Paxson said he wanted to address the situation to “end all the rumors swirling around . . . because there’s not a deal that ever was on the verge of being done, ever close to being done or is going to be done right now. It’s not there. So that’s that.�

Back at the Lakers’ training facility, General Manager Mitch Kupchak concurred, in not so many words.

“Well said, John,� Kupchak said after hearing Paxson’s remarks. Kupchak declined further comment.

Bryant had been connected to Chicago in numerous Internet and TV reports suggesting the Lakers and Bulls were imminent trade partners.

Paxson’s comments left the Lakers . . . where, exactly?

“Maybe with our cake and eating it too,� Coach Phil Jackson said with a smile, apparently not unhappy that Bryant would be with the team for the near term.

Then Jackson straightened up.

“The idea obviously still stands -- as Dr. [Jerry] Buss reiterated many, many times, we do not want to trade Kobe Bryant, but we will listen to any comments that come our way that give us equal parity for him,� Jackson said. “I say a window’s closing on those things, and so now it’s the business of basketball. Now we have to go about playing the game the right way.�

At the same time, any team at any time could visit the possibility of trading for Bryant before the deadline in February.

“I don’t think anything ends,� Jackson said rhetorically. “Do things end just because a day goes by? I know your paper did [last night], but they become partridge-cage fodder.�

Partridges?

“Or pigeons.�

Jackson and the Lakers could afford to be glib.

Bryant had been eyeing the watered-down Eastern Conference, and the ever-improving Bulls, since demanding to be traded in May, but a few things would have stood in his way, namely his contract ($88.6 million over the next four seasons), the trade kicker in it ($9.6 million to be paid over the next two seasons by a team that acquires him) or the fact Bryant could terminate the contract in two years.

Not to mention that the Bulls’ refusal to part with up-and-coming forward Luol Deng was seen as a non-starter by the Lakers.

Bryant had already spoken to reporters by the time Paxson’s comments were publicized, talking in platitudes when asked if he heard the numerous trade scenarios, accurate or otherwise.

“I have, just to keep tabs on how my teammates are reacting to it,� he said. “I don’t want it to be a distraction for them. They’re all just rumors. We’ve been doing a pretty good job here of staying focused on what we have to do as a ball club.�

For those keeping score, there are now public shoot-downs from two potential trading partners -- Paxson and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban -- as well as an unlikely trading partner, Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld, who felt it important to debunk a light-hearted newspaper item that proposed a Bryant-for-Gilbert Arenas trade.

Still, Paxson shed some light on why Bryant would want to go to the Bulls -- besides the fact they’re a young, deep team.

“The interest in us started because [Bulls Chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] and I flew out when Kobe was a free agent a few years ago and presented ourselves as an organization to him and he liked what he heard,� Paxson said. “For that reason, he likes the Chicago Bulls, which is obviously flattering. But there’s more to it than lining up players and figuring out a way to get something done. There’s money involved. There’s a trade kicker involved. It’s complicated.�

Meanwhile, the Lakers play tonight against one of their least-favorite opponents, the Phoenix Suns, who have beaten them in eight of their last 10 regular-season meetings and eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs the last two seasons.

“They’re a team that really gets under our skin in terms of knocking us out of the playoffs the last two years,� Bryant said. “We want to get to their level. To do that, you have to gain some confidence by beating them every once in a while.�

After making only 18 of 27 free throws in Tuesday’s season-opening loss to Houston, Bryant said he sank 50 consecutive free throws before Thursday’s practice.

“You get a gift of 27 free throws, you’ve got to knock down at least 26 of those,� Bryant said. “That’s a Christmas present if I’ve ever seen one.�

Forward Lamar Odom went through a personal workout Thursday, two days after sustaining a mild concussion in an auto accident in Hawthorne.

“It could have been worse,� he said. “I’m glad [the other driver] is OK and I’m glad I was able to walk away. I’ve been through a lot, so I understand that life is fragile and I’m glad that nobody got hurt.�

Odom is week-to-week because of soreness from off-season surgery in his left shoulder.

TONIGHT

at Phoenix, 7:30, Channel 9, ESPN

Site -- US Airways Center.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 0-1; Suns 1-0.

Record vs. Suns (2006-07) -- 1-3.

Update -- The Suns look like the same up-tempo bunch as last season, along with the addition of forward Grant Hill, who signed a two-year deal as a free agent. Including playoffs, the Lakers have lost 12 of their last 13 at Phoenix.

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