Kobe’s Frustrated With Lakers About Pau Gasol Trade Rumors

With the Lakers sort of slouching, as evidenced by Sunday’s 102-90 loss at Phoenix, the attendant hand-wringing has been inspiring rumors of roster upheaval starring Pau Gasol.

But the Laker with a trade chip on his shoulder is superstar Kobe Bryant, who lashed out at management, saying, ”If they’re going to do something, I wish they would just (expletive) do it.”

”He’s been the consummate professional,” Bryant said after the Lakers’ three-game win streak ended. ”He’s going out and he’s trying to do what he can. But let’s be real. If you didn’t know you were going to be here tomorrow, if your head’s on the chopping block and you feel like you’re just waiting, it’s tough to put all of yourself in the game.”

Gasol trade rumors began before the season when the Lakers thought they had shipped him to New Orleans in deal that would have brought them Chris Paul. Commissioner David Stern blocked the trade.

“It’s hard for Pau because of all this trade talk and stuff,” Bryant said, bringing up the subject without any prompting. ”It’s hard for him to kind of invest himself completely or immerse himself completely into games when he’s hearing trade talk every other day. I wish management would either come out and either trade him or not trade him.”

Bryant said the Lakers have the foundation for another run at the NBA title with Gasol, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to Phoenix — slightly better than his season averages.

”It obviously starts with myself and Pau and the emergency of Andrew (Bynum),” Bryant said, ”but you can’t have one of our pillars not knowing if he’s going to be here or not. Do something. One way or another, do something. If they trade him, at least you have some type of closure.”

Bryant, as usual, was the last player to speak to reporters Sunday night. Gasol already had left after talking about the game but mentioning nothing about a potential trade.

”I talked to him a little bit about it,” Bryant said. ”It’s just tough for a player to give his all when you don’t know if you’re going to be here tomorrow. So I’d rather them not trade him at all. If they were going to do something, I wish they would just (expletive) do it. If they’re not going to do it, come out and say you’re not going to do it. This way he can be comfortable, he can go out and perform and he can play and he can invest all of himself in the game.”

In addition to personnel roulette, another of this season’s popular NBA activities has been listing reasons the Lakers have reached the predicament stage.

For starters, they’re not quite as defensive as first-year coach Mike Brown becomes when his preferred style of play is accused of lacking in entertainment value. For the record, that mighty triangle offense presided over by Phil Jackson didn’t exactly function through excessive speed or fancy maneuvers. But when LA Times columnist T.J. Simers put Brown in the crosshairs regarding the Lakers’ reduced watchability, Brown’s published responses indicated this team would be built on defense