By Marc Stein - ESPN.com

The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping that Kobe Bryant gets clearance from the league to miss Sunday’s All-Star Game in New Orleans after announcing Thursday that Bryant has a torn ligament in his right pinkie.

But Bryant doesn’t yet have that clearance — and may not get it.

A league official confirmed Thursday night that the NBA is not looking for potential replacements to fill Bryant’s spot on the Western Conference squad. That’s because the league office still expects Bryant to start and play for the West, even if it’s only for a brief cameo, after he played for the Lakers all the way through to their final game before the All-Star break Wednesday in Minnesota.

Bryant scored 29 points in 35 minutes in Wednesday’s 117-92 win at Minnesota. Bryant sat out the fourth quarter and had the finger X-rayed after the game.

The Lakers, according to team sources, are trying to convince the league that Bryant should be excused after a visit Thursday to hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin revealed a ligament tear. Bryant is expected to make that plea personally once he arrives in New Orleans on Friday after Shin recommend that Bryant undergo surgery that would likely sideline him for six weeks.

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by Marcel Mutoni - SLAM magazine

That’s the big question this weekend, and it’s not an easy one to answer.

The Lakers obviously want the injured Bryant to skip the ASG, but the League would like for him to play (even if it’s just for a brief cameo). And who knows what Kobe himself wants to do. Actually, it’s not hard to guess that he probably wants to suit up.

A league official confirmed Thursday night that the NBA is not looking for potential replacements to fill Bryant’s spot on the Western Conference squad. That’s because the league office still expects Bryant to start and play for the West.

Bryant is expected to meet with League officials today and we should find out pretty soon what his status for Sunday is.

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By JORGE MILIAN - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Heat coach Pat Riley was named today as one of 15 finalists for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Riley has won five NBA championships as a coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and Heat and ranks third on the all-time list for coaching victories behind Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens and Don Nelson, who is also a finalist.

The 62-year-old Riley’s accomplishments makes it virtually certain that he will be a member of the Hall of Fame’s 2008 class when it is announced on April 7 in San Antonio.

Riley, who also coached the New York Knicks during 25 seasons on the bench, said he was “fortunate” to have worked with outstanding talent.

“I started with great teams, great players — all of them Hall of Famers or are going to be Hall of Famers,” said Riley, who won four NBA titles in his first seven seasons as a coach with the Lakers. “It sort of jump-started me out there. The 25 years has been a long time, but there’s been a body of work out there that just makes it, if I get selected, a great honor.”

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League policy requires him to play or sit out the next game for the Lakers. He might be in the game for only a few minutes.

By Mark Heisler, Los Angeles Times

NEW ORLEANS — Ready, willing, able or not … h-e-r-e’s Kobe!

Despite protests by the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, NBA officials insisted that he remain in the lineup for Sunday’s All-Star game, which Bryant said he would do.

According to NBA policy, any selectee who plays in his team’s last game — as Bryant did, scoring 29 points in Wednesday’s win in Minnesota — has to play in the All-Star game or sit out his team’s next game.

It was after the Lakers got home Thursday that Bryant’s injury, thought to be a dislocated right pinkie, was re-diagnosed as a ligament tear.

With the Lakers medical staff and management right up to owner Jerry Buss counseling Bryant to undergo surgery, which would have meant missing six weeks, Bryant made the decision to keep playing.

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Obtained in a trade this month with the Memphis Grizzlies, he has averaged 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds in six games. Now he just needs to find a place to live in L.A.

By Steve Springer, Los Angeles Times

MINNEAPOLIS — After 15 days on the road, the Lakers are happy to be home.

All but Pau Gasol, that is. He has nothing to dream about.

For Gasol, obtained in a Feb. 1 trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, the flight to Los Angeles ended like all the other stops on this marathon trip: in a hotel bed. Obtained after the trip was already underway, Gasol flew to L.A. for a physical, stayed a few hours, and was back in the air, en route to Washington, D.C., to meet his new teammates.

The man who has become an instant hero in L.A., who has almost single-handedly transformed the image of the Lakers from playoff hopefuls to title contenders, has yet to even hear the cheers of his home crowd.

“It is very strange,” said the 7-foot, 260-pound center/forward, “but that’s just the way it is. I’ll stay in a hotel until I can find a place to live. It’s been crazy, but I am excited and motivated by the move.”

He’d be crazy not to be. Gasol has gone from a 14-37 team mired at the bottom of the Southwest Division to a Laker team that is 34-17 after Wednesday’s 117-92 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In Gasol’s six games as a Laker, he is averaging 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, and is hitting 64.5% from the floor.

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