Lakers Will Go Slow in Using Benjamin : Pro basketball: He is excused from practice and will be fourth string for tonight’s game at Sacramento.

In his second day as a Laker, Benoit Benjamin was absent from practice Tuesday, but team officials approved it so he could tend to personal business in Seattle.

He is scheduled to meet the team in Sacramento and be in uniform for tonight’s game against the Kings, although he might not play.

Rookie guard Anthony Peeler also didn’t practice, but he will be in uniform tonight. Because his sprained left wrist has not significantly improved since being injured a month ago, Peeler underwent a magnetic resonance imaging test Tuesday, which revealed no broken bone.

The diagnosis is tendinitis, and Peeler will play as pain permits. Team spokesman John Black said that if the injury worsens, the wrist will have to be immobilized.

“If we would lose Anthony for any more time, I think it’s a fairly significant thing,” Coach Randy Pfund said of Peeler, who is averaging 10.8 points after sitting out the last two games. “Byron (Scott) is playing very well right now, and I want Anthony out there behind him.”

Benjamin, acquired from the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday along with the rights to Doug Christie for Sam Perkins, will be behind Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell and James Edwards at center tonight.

“There’s definitely a possibility we would wait a game or two for him to learn our system,” Pfund said. “We’ll see (today) if everything goes OK, with him going to Sacramento and getting to the shoot-around. We won’t rush it with Benoit.”

Laker General Manager Jerry West said he is continuing negotiations with Christie’s agent, Brad Marshall, and again intimated that an agreement isn’t far off. He might sign Christie for a prorated portion of the minimum salary, which is permissible for teams that are over the salary cap.

“Let’s get him signed and I’ll tell you how I signed him,” West said.

West also said he won’t trade Edwards, despite a crowd at center, and he won’t part with Peeler, whose name has come up in the Vlade Divac-to-Dallas trade reports. That means it’s unlikely the Lakers will pull off another deal before Thursday’s 6 p.m. deadline.

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Perkins, still professing shock over the trade, said Tuesday he would have appreciated hearing about it--and the reasons for it--from West instead of from assistant general manager Mitch Kupchak.

“Just to talk to them would have been easier, but I have no resentment toward anyone,” Perkins said. “I really didn’t know what they were trying to do until they emphasized they were going young.”