Luke Walton Denies Dating Britney Spears

Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton said on Thursday that he is not dating pop singer Britney Spears, in response to reports last week that the two were dating.

The announcement may be good news for the Lakers who would like to go into their final playoff push without distractions.

The Lakers have four games left in the regular season, and rumors of Walton being the next Kevin Federline won't help. The Lakers play the Clippers tonight at the Staples Center, Britney rumors and all, in one of the biggest games in the history of the two Los Angeles pro basketball teams.

With a win, the Lakers would move to the brink of qualifying for the playoffs. The Clippers just hope not to fall out of playoff position.

``They really need this game like we really need it,'' said Odom, who played the first four seasons of his career with the Clippers. ``Plus it just happens to be Clippers/Lakers. It's a great time.''

Walton, however, wasn't able to talk much about the playoffs, instead he was trying to get his personal life out of the supermarket tabloids. The rumors of a Spears-Walton romance were started when Spears attended two recent Lakers games. Somehow the pop diva got linked to a romantic relationship with Walton.

``The rumors aren't true,'' Walton said. ``I'm sure Britney is a great person. I don't even know her. I have a girlfriend right now. I'm in a relationship. I'm very happy with my relationship. I don't know where it's all started, but none of it is true.''

Walton's girlfriend is Bre Ladd, a former University of Arizona volleyball player. Ladd just happened to be sitting five seats away from Spears at one of the recent Laker games.

'Entertainment Tonight' of course didn't mention that when they ran a story earlier in the week about Spears and Walton having a relationship.

``If I was living in Milwaukee, this wouldn't have happened,'' Walton said. ``It's definitely an L.A. thing.''

Walton said that his girlfriend was amused at first but is now irritated.