EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Kobe Bryant said he plans to stay with the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers even he if opts out of his contract this summer. Phil Jackson said his health will dictate whether he returns as coach.
Bryant met with Jackson and general manager Mitch Kupchak for an individual exit interview Friday.
The finals MVP can terminate the last two years of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He’s spent his entire 13-year career with the Lakers, winning four NBA championships. But he could get a new, more lucrative and longer deal if he opted out.
Jackson, who turns 64 in September, said he’ll decide about next season after he gets some health issues checked out.
Yao to Cavs ‘unknown’
BEIJING — Rockets center Yao Ming has called a possible move to Cleveland an “unknown” amid rumors that the Cavaliers’ new Chinese part owners want to sign him.
In a recent interview with his hometown Shanghai TV station, Yao said he continued to have “much affection” for the Houston Rockets, the team that took him in the first round of the 2002 draft and with whom he has played all six of his NBA seasons. “This is all an unknown,” Yao said in the interview, a transcript of which was posted online Friday.
An exhibition in Taiwan
NEW YORK — The NBA will play its first game in Taiwan this fall. The league said Friday the Denver Nuggets will face the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 8 in an exhibition game at Taipei Arena.
Nowitzki files for baby
DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki wants sole custody of his former girlfriend’s unborn child if genetic tests prove he is the father, according to a court filing.
Nowitzki wants custody the child due to be born to Crystal Taylor, who was arrested at the player’s Dallas home May 6 and is being held at the Jefferson County jail in Beaumont.
Taylor has been jailed in lieu of $50,000 bond. She is accused of paying for almost $11,000 in dental work with a credit card she didn’t have permission to use. She also faces a probation violation charge in Missouri.
Nowitzki’s court filing notes that he has been cited as the father of the child by Taylor and it asks the court to order a paternity test. The petition was filed in state district court in Dallas on June 12. It was sealed Friday, shortly after its details were reported by the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper.
Neither Nowitzki nor Taylor is specifically named in the petition. However, the petitioner is identified as “D.N.” and the respondent as “C.T.” The document also outlines circumstances similar to those made public by Taylor, who has said repeatedly that Nowitzki is the father.
Taylor has been jailed in lieu of $50,000 bond. She is accused of paying for almost $11,000 in dental work with a credit card she didn’t have permission to use. She also faces a probation violation charge in Missouri.
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