The New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks and possibly Charlotte Hornets are all teams that could be interested in Kobe Bryant, according to ESPN's Chad Ford.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost Julius Randle for the entire season on opening night and are expected to struggle to make the playoffs. The Lakers also get to keep their 2015 first round pick if it is in the top-5.

The Knicks are an especially interesting possibility due to his connection to Phil Jackson, Derek Fisher and Carmelo Anthony.

The Knicks could include young players like Iman Shumpert and/or Tim Hardaway Jr., along with a 2015 first rounder and they also have the expiring contracts of Amar'e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani.

"I don't think Mitch has much choice but to find ways to lose," one GM told ESPN. "They're going to be bad anyway. You don't want to be just good enough that you lose the pick and still miss the playoffs. I don't think they have the assets to get good enough to make the playoffs and I don't think they have the [expletive] to trade Kobe. It's paradoxical, but right now losing seems like the only way to really get better."

Bryant's contract expires after the 15-16 NBA season.

The Brooklyn Nets have waived Casper Ware.

Ware was acquired in this week's trade with the Philadelphia 76ers and was on a non-guaranteed contract.

he Brooklyn Nets have traded guard Marquis Teague along with the 2019 second round draft pick, which was obtained from Milwaukee this past June, to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for guard Casper Ware.

Ware appeared in nine games for Philadelphia last season, where he averaged 5.3 points and 1.1 assists in 12.9 minutes per game.

Teague appeared in 40 games for the Bulls and the Nets last season, averaging 2.7 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 11.1 minutes per game.

The Brooklyn Nets have exercised the third-year contract options on forward/center Mason Plumlee and guard/forward Sergey Karasev. Both players will remain under contract through at least the 2015-16 season.

Selected out of Duke in the first round of the 2013 NBA Draft (22nd overall), Plumlee was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team following his first season with Brooklyn. In 74 games (22 starts) last season, Plumlee averaged 7.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.79 blocks in 18.2 minutes per game for the Nets. He led all rookies in PER, Win Shares, Win Shares/48 Minutes, True Shooting Percentage, Field Goal Percentage and Dunk Rate and was second among qualifying rookies in blocks per game. 

Karasev, who was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade on July 10, 2014, was selected by Cleveland in the first round (19th overall) of the 2013 NBA Draft.  The native of Russia averaged 1.7 points and 0.7 rebounds in 7.1 minutes per game in 22 appearances with the Cavaliers last season.

The Brooklyn Nets have requested waivers on forward/center Willie Reed.

Reed, who was signed to the Nets' training camp roster on September 25, 2014, posted averages of 4.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in two preseason contests.

Jason Kidd was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason after a reported failed power move.

Kidd returns to New York to face the Knicks on Monday, and he denied seeking additional power. Kidd was traded for two second-round picks.

"No, I don't need any power," Kidd said. "My [job] is to learn how to be a coach and be the best coach that I can be."

"Did I want to be traded? I think once [the Nets] OK'd the talk to Milwaukee, that just showed, whatever you want to call it, rumors or no rumors that they wanted to fire me in December had to have some legs."

Meanwhile, Paul Pierce told NBA.com that the Nets did not offer him a contract in free agency because the team "wanted to cut costs, they felt like they weren't going to be a contender."

"I believe it," Kidd said when asked about Pierce's comments about not being offered a contract. "I mean, if they don't offer [Pierce] a contract worth what a first-round pick is, then why did we do the deal [last year for Pierce and Garnett]?"

In this two-part episode, host Daniel Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Arturo Galletti of BoxScoreGeeks.com (@ArturoGalletti) go through the over-unders for all 30 NBA teams for the 14-15 season. 

Timestamps for the discussion on each team:

Part One

Click here to listen or download Part 1 

Part Two

Click here to listen or download Part 2. 

You can also click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Brook Lopez sustained a mild right midfoot sprain in the first quarter of the Brooklyn Nets’ preseason contest against Sacramento on October 15th.                                                

"Brook Lopez experienced right foot soreness after being stepped on during the pre-season game against the Kings Wednesday night," said Billy King. "X-ray and CT scan studies done Thursday in New York reveal no fractures or bone injuries. Brook has been diagnosed with a mild midfoot sprain and is likely to be out for approximately 10-14 days."

The NBA will experiment with a 44-minute game when the Brooklyn Nets host the Boston Celtics on Oct. 19 in the preseason.

The league wants to examine the flow of a shorter game as compared to the standard 48-minute game.

"At our recent coaches' meeting, we had a discussion about the length of our games, and it was suggested that we consider experimenting with a shorter format," said NBA President, Basketball Operations Rod Thorn. "After consulting with our Competition Committee, we agreed to allow the Nets and Celtics to play a 44-minute preseason game in order to give us some preliminary data that will help us to further analyze game-time lengths."

Application of the experimental 44-minute game will involve quarters being reduced from their typical 12 minutes each to 11 and a reduction in mandatory timeouts in the second and fourth quarters. 

"When this idea came up at the coaches' meeting, I thought it was a unique experiment that was worth participating in," said Lionel Hollins. "I'm looking forward to gauging its impact on the flow of the game. Since there is a shorter clock, it affects playing time, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays into substitution patterns."

The parent companies of the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Dodgers are unlikely to partner in ownership, according to sources.

The two sides held talks recently, but discussions are unlikely to pick up again.

“Guggenheim doesn’t have money,” a source close to the situation said. “Will a deal ever happen? Probably no.”

Mikhail Prokhorov still wants to sell some of his 80 percent stake in the Nets — and Ratner wishes to unload his 55 percent Barclays stake, sources said.