Nba, Los Angeles Lakers | featured news

Kobe Bryant scored 48 points — his fifth straight game with 25 or more — and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 99-83 Tuesday night to win their seventh straight at home and third in a row overall.

The bottom line is the Lakers are 0-2 after falling 100-91 to Sacramento Tuesday. That is two games in a row where they played poorly at the end (they blew an 11 point lead Sunday, scored on basket in the final three minutes Monday).

The wife of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant filed for divorce Friday, eight years after she famously stuck by him after he admitted having sex with a woman at a Colorado hotel, a court spokeswoman said.

The Lakers made a trade Saturday, but it wasn't for Chris Paul or Dwight Howard. Two days after getting rebuffed by the NBA in an apparent deal for Paul, the Lakers sent forward Lamar Odom to Dallas for the Mavericks' first-round pick in the 2012 amateur draft.

Magic spokesman Joel Glass says the team has granted New Jersey, Dallas and the L.A. Lakers permission to talk to Dwight Howard's agent Dan Fegan to discuss possible trades....

NBA teams went back to work Friday, which for Chris Paul meant going back to New Orleans. And there was disbelief and anger around the league - and a commitment to try again to find him a new home.

An epic trade that would have made Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant teammates in Los Angeles was vetoed Thursday night by N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern in a decision that rocked the league just as it emerged from a five-month lockout... New Orleans would have received Lamar Odom from the Lakers, and Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic from the Rockets. Martin is among the league’s top scorers, Odom is a versatile big man and Scola is a skilled and rugged power forward. In addition, the Hornets would have received the Knicks’ first-round draft pick in 2012, which the Rockets acquired in a previous trade. Houston would have received Pau Gasol from the Lakers.

This may be the last time Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest will answer to that name.

San Diego police are seeking to interview parishioners who may have witnessed a minor dust-up between basketball star Kobe Bryant and a young man at a church service Sunday, officials said.

Yesterday, Ron Artest's attorney filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to change the Los Angeles Lakers forward's name to Metta World Peace. Born Ronald William Artest Jr., the 31-year-old cited personal reasons for wanting to make the change. This is not the first time a sports personality has changed their monicker, neither is it the first time a musician has changed their name. After the jump, a list of the weirdest name changes we can remember.