In Los Angeles for a charity basketball game Sunday, O'Neal told SI.com he did not want to go through a rebuilding process with a young team and would prefer to be moved to a contender.

"I would welcome a trade to the Lakers," said O'Neal. "Indiana has given me the opportunity to establish myself as a really good player in this league, but they're into rebuilding and going really young, and I'm just not in a position physically to go through another five to six years with a lot of losses and a lot of down time."

O'Neal was quoted in even more direct fashion by ESPN.com.

"It's time for me to move on," he said. "And the Lakers are the team I want Indiana to trade me to."

O'Neal took a completely different approach in interviews with The Indianapolis Star and The Associated Press after returning to the city.

"My preference is to play here and win here," O'Neal told the newspaper.

"I don't think me saying I'd like to go with those teams is me saying I want to be traded," he told the AP.

O'Neal's agent, Arn Tellem, sent an e-mail to the AP supporting his client.

"He hasn't requested a trade to the Lakers," Tellem wrote. "Any reports to the contrary are inaccurate."

He also recanted his comments about the team being in a rebuilding mode.

"We have a team that's coming back that was thrown into the fire pretty quickly (after the eight-player trade with Golden State) and never really got comfortable," he told the newspaper. "Giving them a full year is the most interesting part. The key thing is for everybody to come in a lot better than they were last year. Give the new guys (Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy and Ike Diogu) a chance to come into a fresh training camp and get their feet wet. There will be a big difference between how they played this year and last year. That was a tough situation to come into, especially with a team that hadn't missed the playoffs in 10 years."

Aside from the hiring of Coach Jim O'Brien to replace Rick Carlisle, the Pacers' primary roster moves this summer have been the signings of free agents Travis Diener (25), Kareem Rush (26) and Stephen Graham (25), all relatively young NBA veterans. The team released Orien Greene (25) and Rawle Marshall (25) and did not match Toronto's offer for Maceo Baston (31). Darrell Armstrong (39) and Keith McLeod (27) are free agents. The draft yielded second-round pick Stanko Barac (20), a long-term prospect who will remain in Europe for the foreseeable future.

Bird

“In response to Jermaine O’Neal’s published comments today regarding a trade, we have stated repeatedly that if we can make our team better through a trade, we will do so," Bird said in a statement released Monday by the team. "Jermaine has become an All-Star player with the Indiana Pacers and in any discussions regarding him or any of our other players, the expectations for the franchise and our fans is to receive fair market value in return if a trade is to be considered.

“Jermaine has worked out very hard this summer while rehabilitating his knee after surgery. We believe under Jim O’Brien that our team as a whole and Jermaine as a player can be successful. You never know what will happen, but for now Jermaine is an Indiana Pacer.”

The Lakers have showed quite a bit of interest in O'Neal as a potential complement to Kobe Bryant, who has demanded a trade if the Lakers can't make a major move to upgrade the talent level, but the Lakers reportedly are unwilling to part with both Lamar Odom and 19-year-old big man Andrew Bynum. New Jersey surfaced as a potential suitor during the NBA Draft but no longer appears interested.

"I love L.A.," O'Neal told SI.com. "I normally train here every summer. The last two summers I haven't trained here because I got hurt, but I love it here. My daughter loves it. My wife loves it. This is one of the prime places that if I were to be traded, I would allow Indiana to trade me here."

O'Neal also cited his long-term relationship with Bryant. Both entered the NBA from high school in the 1996 Draft.

O'Neal

"We've spoken a couple times this offseason," O'Neal said. "Me and Kobe have been on each other since we were 15, playing AAU basketball, adidas All-American Camp, Nike All-American Camp. It's been a long relationship that we've had. We talked about maybe playing together. ... We just want to make sure that our thought processes are similar and now we're going to let the business handle itself. I mean, we could talk for years, but if (Lakers GM) Mitch Kupchak and Larry Bird don't decide to make the deal, then it's all talk."

O'Neal can opt out of his contract after the 2007-08 season but to do so would mean forfeiting the final two seasons, reportedly valued at $44 million, on his current contract.