After winning their 15th NBA Championship with a 2008-09 roster full of talented players, the Lakers most important decision for the 2009 post-season seamed to be how much money they wanted to spend to re-sign free agents Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. But in a very unexpected move they stopped negotiations with Ariza and signed Ron Artest. Later Lamar Odom agreed to stay in L.A. and so did Shannon Brown.

Other than that, Kobe decided not to opt out of his contract and the team will try to sign him to a 3-year extension on top of his two remaining years. Phil Jackson said he's healthy and will be the coach this season.

No other major changes are expected on a roster that performed great and even won a championship with players such as Sasha Vujacic and Andrew Bynum playing well below what was expected from them. Their improvement and Artest arrival should be more than enough for the Lakers to be a contender again in 2009-10 despite missing Ariza.

Rumors
It was though that after the 2009 playoffs the Lakers would have to decide between unrestricted free agents Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom, players that were both key parts of the 2009 Championship roster. But the Lakers decided to bring Ron Artest, let Trevor Ariza go and after many comings and goings Odom agreed to stay, and basically all rumors are over. The only remaining issue is Kobe's contract extension. With Odom's situation resolved and a team with a promising future ahead, everybody believes Kobe will sign a three-year extension on top of his two remaining years / Rumors archive

Ron Artest
After Ariza rejected their first offer, the Lakers didn't wasted any time and agreed to terms with small forward Ron Artest. He is one of the best defenders in the NBA, he is very tough and have good scoring skills, averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists for the Rockets last season and seemed very happy to be a Laker despite having to take a pay cut after making $7.4 million in 2009. The Lakers gave Artest a 5-year deal using the team's mid-level exception that will pay him a total of $33.95 million with a player option for the last year..

It will be a risky experiment for L.A. While Artest is a better player than Ariza, he is also very volatile and has a history of on and off-court problems (remember him starting the brawl with the fans in Detroit?). It is also fair to say that he has almost been a model citizen last season at Houston and Phil Jackson won 3 championships while coaching a similar player named Dennis Rodman. The big question is how he will fit in a Laker roster that won the 2009 title with a no-drama philosophy.

Kobe Bryant
After winning his 4th championship with a team full of talent, Kobe decided not to opt out of his contract and is expected to sign three-year extension on top of his two remaining years. He will make a guaranteed $47.8 million over the next two years and depending on NBA salary-cap figures to be determined in 2011 he could earn another $86 to $91 million with the extension,

With that extension -- which is expected to be signed sometime this month -- Kobe would be a Lakers until the end of the 2013-14 season. He could opt out again at the end of 2011-12.

Phil Jackson
Jackson, who turns 64 in September, successfully completed a battery of medical tests and confirmed the team that he will be the coach in 2009-10. In fact Jackson was under contract for this season and will earn $12 million but he had to evaluate his health before giving a final answer. Jackson, missed a game in Portland late in the 2008-09 regular season because of painful swelling in his lower right leg and in previous years he has had both hips replaced and underwent an angioplasty procedure to open a clogged artery in his heart. One option being considered is the Jackson could skip some road games that would be coached by assistant Kurt Rambis.

Lamar Odom
Odom, who was a key piece of Los Angeles's run to the 2009 championship, earned $14 million last season and became an unrestricted free agent. He agreed to a big pay cut by accepting a 4-year $33 million contract with a team option for the final year. The negotiations weren't easy. The Lakers initially presented two offers -- one was a 4-year deal for $9 million a season, the other was a 3-year, $30-million deal that would have paid Odom $10 million a season. But tired of waiting for an answer, team owner Jerry Buss pulled the deals off the table. The talks restarted a week later while Odom was considering an offer from his former team the Miami Heat.

Odom, who arrived to the Lakers for the 2004-05 season as a part of the Shaquille O'Neal trade, in 2008-09 accepted his role of coming from the bench for most of the season but usually played the minutes of an starting player and was on the floor at the end of games.

Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga
The Lakers picked up team options for Powell and Mbenga who will be payed $959,111 each in the 2009-10 season.

Shannon Brown
He was an unrestricted free agent and declined a more lucrative offer from Indiana to stay with the Lakers with a to a two-year, $4.2-million deal, with a player option for the second year.

Trevor Ariza
The Lakers offered him $5.6 million a year which he refused and then the Lakers instead of keeping the negotiations open, signed Ron Artest for a similar amount. Ariza who was hoping for $7 or $8 million agreed to terms with Artest's former team the Rockets who will pay him the money the Lakers were offering, around $33 million over 5 years.

He was a key member of the 2009 Championship. As the starting small forward, he played good defense and made many key plays while averaging 11.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the playoffs.

Kurt Rambis
Phil Jackson's assistant coach and former Showtime player Kurt Rambis agreed to become the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He played 9 seasons for the Lakers and won 4 titles. As an in interim coach after the firing of Del Harris during the 1999 season, Rambis registered a 24-13 record before being swept by the Spurs in the Conference Semifinals.

He won 2 more titles as an assistant coach (2002 and 2009), was the the team's top defensive strategist last season and was supposed to replace Jackson if he decided to retire.

Sun Yue
The Lakers waived the 6-foot-9 guard from China who was their second round pick in the 2007 NBA draft. He was a member of the championship roster last year, but played only 28 minutes in 10 games, scored a total of 6 points and spent part of the season in the Development League. The Lakers held a $736,000 option on Sun for the 2009-10 season.