OAKLAND, Calif. – Saying he's "scarred" by his experience with the Golden State Warriors, Stephen Jackson(notes) foresees only one way for the franchise to resolve the situation: Trade him.

Jackson told Yahoo! Sports on Friday that even if the Warriors made a major trade for a big man to upgrade their roster, he would still want to be traded.

"I've been scarred a lot these last couple of weeks," Jackson said. "I've been handled in a lot of ways that I didn't expect to be handled. You can forgive, but you can't forget. All this stuff is still going to be in my mind. I would embrace it if it did happen, but I wouldn't promise you that it would change my thoughts. I'll definitely embrace it and make the best out of it.

"At this point, I can't see it, I can't see it, I can't see it, I can't see it. At this point, I can't see nothing that will change the way I feel right now."

Jackson was fined $25,000 by the NBA last month after publicly saying he wanted to be traded because he didn't

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Don't expect the Los Angeles Lakers to criticize Stephen Jackson(notes) for wanting the Golden State Warriors to trade him. It wasn't too long ago that the Lakers were dealing with their own trade demand.

From Kobe Bryant(notes).

"The greatest did it before – Kobe – the greatest to ever play the game," Ron Artest(notes) said. "And he won a championship after that. He wanted to win. He didn't want out. He wanted to win. Steve Jackson probably isn't as talented as the greatest. But he has in his heart that he wants to win. Guys like that want to win.

"I did all that stuff early in my career. I'm beyond that now. There are other ways to handle it."

Jackson was fined $25,000 by the NBA last month for voicing his trade request publicly. He hasn't backed away from his comments and just finished a two-game suspension for cursing Warriors coach Don Nelson. On Tuesday, he asked the Warriors to strip him of his captaincy.

Two years ago, it was Bryant who delivered a

The Golden State Warriors suspended disgruntled forward Stephen Jackson(notes) on Saturday for two games after he cursed at coach Don Nelson during a preseason game the previous night, two NBA sources said.

The Warriors announced the suspension prior to Saturday’s preseason game against the Phoenix Suns in Indian Wells, Calif., and said in a statement that Jackson was being punished for “conduct detrimental to the team.”

Jackson’s confrontation with Nelson came after he committed five fouls and a technical in less than 10 minutes of the Warriors’ victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. In addition to yelling at an official, Jackson also became agitated after exchanging words with Lakers guard Kobe Bryant(notes), a source said.

After Jackson left the game with 2:40 left in the first quarter, his meltdown culminated on the sideline when he barked at Nelson, a scene one source described as “very ugly.” Nelson responded by sending Jackson to the locker room for the remainder of the

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – With 3:31 left in the first quarter, Andre Miller(notes) finally shed his warm-ups, left the Portland Trail Blazers’ bench and stepped onto the court. Miller’s delayed entrance to the game wasn’t because of injury; as the NBA’s reigning ironman, he hasn’t missed a game in more than six years. Nor was Miller being punished for violating a team rule.

The reason for the benching was simple: The Blazers aren’t ready to call Miller their starting point guard, even if he was the team’s most significant acquisition of the offseason.

Andre Miller has started all but one regular-season game since his rookie year.

(NBAE/ Getty)

Instead, Miller finds himself battling for the job with Steve Blake(notes) – the same guy for whom the Blazers spent the summer searching for an upgrade. After coming off the bench for Portland’s first two preseason games, Miller started Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers. He played well and is expected to start again in the preseason, but

WESTWEGO, La. – Chris Paul(notes) was spent. His knee ached. His legs felt heavy. He had nothing left to give his New Orleans Hornets. The Denver Nuggets had used their bigger guards to batter Paul throughout the teams’ first-round playoff series, and it showed. In the Hornets’ final two losses – one by a humiliating 58 points – Paul averaged just eight points.

Beaten and bruised, the Hornets exited the playoffs knowing what they needed to do. They had to get Paul some help.

Chris Paul averaged more than six points less in the playoffs than the regular season.

(NBAE/ Getty)

As the Hornets try to reestablish themselves as a legitimate contender in the Western Conference this season, they do so with a new mantra: The less we demand of Paul now, the more we’ll get from him later.

Hornets coach Byron Scott is determined to reduce Paul’s workload, hoping to keep his All-Star point guard fresher for the playoffs. The offseason additions of two speedy newcomers – Bobby Brown(notes) and

OAKLAND, Calif. – Golden State Warriors forward Brandan Wright(notes) suffered a left shoulder injury Friday that will require surgery and could keep him out four to six months, an NBA source told Yahoo! Sports.

Wright suffered the injury when a defender slapped his left arm hard during a shot attempt in Friday’s evening practice. An MRI on Sunday confirmed Wright has damage to the capsule in his shoulder and will need surgery.

Wright averaged 8.3 points and four rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game last season, and was having a strong training camp.

“I’ve had better days,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said after Saturday’s practice. “He might be the best player in camp or right up there. He went down and that made it a bad day today. But we wish him the best and hope he has a good result.”

Wright, who turned 22 on Monday, has had a history of left shoulder issues. Despite the injury, the Warriors are expected to exercise his contract option for the 2010-11 season. While Anthony Randolph

Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer(notes) was introduced to cheers during the team's preseason opener on Thursday – not nearly as many as some of his teammates, but he wasn't drowning in boos, either. The most prominent display of displeasure came from two young fans wearing fake Jazz and Chicago Bulls jerseys with Boozer's and Tyrus Thomas'(notes) names. "Trade us," read the sign they held.

Such is the awkward relationship between Boozer and the Jazz these days. He's one of them, for now, at least. But no one's forgotten he spent the summer saying he'd love to play for the Bulls or Miami Heat. And no one doubts the Jazz explored trading him and could continue to do so. Here today, gone tomorrow?

Only less than a week before training camp opened did Boozer become certain he'd start the preseason in Salt Lake City.

"I wasn't stressed out, man," Boozer said. "I knew what was going on. They brought me back, so I'm here and happy to be here."

Skeptical Jazz fans can be forgiven for

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio – The lights abruptly shut off at the Cleveland Cavaliers' practice facility Monday afternoon, leaving LeBron James(notes) to navigate the hallway in the dark. James wasted no time in assessing blame.

"That's never happened in all these years," James said. "Shaq comes and the lights are out."

Electrical outage or not, there was no denying that James and the rest of the Cavaliers spent their first day of training camp standing in Shaquille O'Neal's(notes) shadow. Even James, for all of his greatness, can't eclipse Shaq's mammoth personality.

"Shaq," James said, "definitely brings that excitement."

The Cavaliers also hope O'Neal brings them a ring. Despite finishing last season with the NBA's best record, the Cavs lost to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals. Needing to better match up with Dwight Howard(notes), Cleveland traded for O'Neal a month later.

"I've gone through a lot in my NBA career, but I haven't had a chance to win an NBA championship,"