<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">One of the few beacons of light in this dreary finishing stretch for the Lakers has been the play of Caron Butler. He averaged 24.1 points in a nine-game stretch before the Lakers played the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, including three of his four 30-point games of the season. Even though Butler's shot was off in the Lakers' 114-112 loss, he still managed to score 10 points, his 17th consecutive game in double figures. With Lamar Odom sidelined for the final five weeks of the season because of a strained left shoulder and Brian Grant bothered all season by creaky knees, Butler will end up as the most productive scorer of the three players the Lakers received from Miami in the Shaquille O'Neal trade, with an average of 15.6 points. (Of course, that's 7.4 below O'Neal, but that's another story). Ordinarily a 25-year-old playing some of the best ball of his career would be a promising sign for a team's future. That's not the case with the Desperate Franchise. At 6 feet 7, Butler is in the middle of a cluster of six Laker players between 6-6 and 6-8. The smallest of the group ? the 6-6 Kobe Bryant ? also happens to be the most valuable, leaving the rest in limbo, a bunch of interchangeable or replaceable parts. Butler has one season left on his contract. If the Lakers don't sign him to an extension by October, he will become a restricted free agent after next season. Keeping Butler around long-term would cost the Lakers some of the precious salary cap room they hope to clear by 2007, when Grant's contract comes off the books and the Lakers have a chance to be players in the free-agent market. "Hopefully I'll be here," Butler said. "I really want to be here. I feel like it's a great situation. We'll see what happens. But I definitely want to be here."</div> Source
well if he wants to be here then hopefully he wont demand too much money when he wants to resign with the lakers
