Jannero Pargo's agent continues to speak with the Hornets about a possible return to the club.

"Jeff (Bower, Hornets general manager) and I spoke (Tuesday) about a bunch of things and Jannero was something we discussed and we'll take it a step at a time and see where it goes," Mark Bartelstein said. "There's nothing new to talk about now, but we'll look at it and see what happens.

"I think you could say there's mutual interest. That's fair to say."

New Orleans Hornets forward James Posey tore the meniscus cartilage in his right knee sometime during the 2008-09 season.  He had that tear repaired last week in Miami by arthroscopic surgery, according to his agent Mark Bartelstein.

"It was a small tear," Bartelstein said. "They went in, fixed it, he's feeling great and everything worked out really well. He'll be back in another four or five weeks at 100 percent.

"He's about as tough as they come. When it comes to toughness, James Posey is in the upper echelon. The doctor said the knee looked great; very little wear and tear for a guy who has played so long (10 years). Everything looks really good going forward."

The Hornets say that center Tyson Chandler and forward James Posey have both had successful surgeries, according to the Associated Press.

Chandler had a procedure on his left ankle to relieve inflammation and another on his left toe, while Posey's surgery was on his right knee.

Hornets team president Hugh Weber said on Thursday that the team will not trade All-Stars David West and Chris Paul just to avoid having to pay luxury tax.

New Orleans is expected to have a payroll of $76 million this season, and the tax threshold is expected to be around $68 million for the 2008-09 campaign.

Chad Shinn, the son of team owner George Shinn, said it is "very unlikely" that West would be moved.

"The luxury tax is something that all teams are concerned about, not small-market teams, not teams in New Orleans, not teams owned by George Shinn, but all teams are concerned about the luxury tax because it is punitive," Weber said. "I think the real question is if we have to go over the luxury tax to be competitive, will we? And the answer is yes. At the same time, you have to ask yourself the question if you don't have to, we won't. ... A lot of the speculation is that (getting under the luxury tax) is the priority, and it's not.

"We are looking to improve in a traditional way. We normally have five or six or seven roster changes a year. That's just the natural chain of events. Chris and David have been key to this team. And I don't see that ever changing. And you talk about guys like Tyson and Peja, and these guys are critical to the core of this team. But I don't want to tie anybody's hands and say Jeff can't talk about or we are not going to talk about (trading certain players). You can't speculate. But I tell you, we are planning to move about with the traditional roster changes that we have and not some blowup breakdown type of process."

A source close to Byron Scott said he will return next season as head coach of the Hornets to fulfill the final year of his contract, but whether he is offered an extension will be based on evaluations that occur throughout next season.

Until Wednesday, Scott has remained in limbo after Hornets owner George Shinn said he planned to meet with his brain trust to evaluate his performance after the team's quick ouster in the playoffs.

The Hornets are expected to hold a press conference on Thursday to announce that Byron Scott will remain their head coach through the 2009-10 season.

According to multiple sources, the Sacramento Kings have not requested permission to interview Scott for their vacancy after several days of speculation that they were strongly interested.

New Orleans forwards David West and James Posey have come to the defense of coach Byron Scott, who has been criticized in the wake of the team's first-round loss to the Nuggets.

"I believe so," West said when asked whether or not Scott still had his player's ears. "The guys understand the way he wants to play. Guys play for him. Guys have respect for him. I know I do. I respect what he tries to do. Like I said, we got put in a tough spot. He was put in a tough spot with guys being banged up. Even in the beginning, I don't think we had a good enough rhythm, where we played together well enough throughout the year to make a sustainable run."

Posey, a veteran of six NBA teams, claims that the players are at fault in New Orleans, not the coaching staff.

"I believe that even though they fire the coaches and things like that throughout the league, regardless of the level, it's the players that go out there and are supposed to get it done," Posey said. "If you have players that buy into the system and go out there and do what they're supposed to do, everything is fine. Sometimes when you don't have players out there doing what the coach asks them to do, man, the players for the most part don't get punished. It's always the coaches that go.

"I think everything is pretty positive around here. I think we have a good coaching staff that prepared us every night for what we were supposed to do. When we didn't do it, that's when we lost ball games."

The Hornets are expected to make numerous changes after a disappointing season, and coach Byron Scott could be among the moves.

In their only public statement, the team said that they will evaluate Scott's performance.

New Orleans owner George Shinn was asked about Scott's future, and admitted that it was a loaded question.

"I haven't sat down with all my basketball people to go through all those things," Shinn said. "A lot of teams in this league would say they're happy to have won 49 games. What happened with the fact we've had injuries the way we have and our coaching staff is good. I can't complain, because we haven't had our team at full strength. Everyone will be analyzed and evaluated in the offseason. I'm analyzed every day."

Scott signed an extension last summer, but it expires at the conclusion of next season.