Fined and Fine, O’Neal Ready to Play

While the NBA rested Thursday, the Lakers considered the physical frailties of their two largest players, the team somehow having come out of the softest part of its schedule in worse shape than it started.

That is, Shaquille O’Neal spent part of Wednesday on a chiropractor’s table, he said, and was healed. And Karl Malone shot a few jump shots Thursday afternoon but apparently is no closer to returning to the Lakers’ lineup, though Coach Phil Jackson said Malone’s name probably would not be put on the injured list.

Also, Jackson fears the Lakers, at 21-7, have lost their early-season momentum, evidenced by four losses in seven games, two of them in their only road games in a month. They play the SuperSonics in Seattle tonight, a game remarkable for the return of Gary Payton to his organization of more than a dozen seasons and for the Lakers’ continuing effort to retake the thrust of their 18-3 start.

“We thought we’d be sliding through pretty healthy,” Jackson said. “But, you can’t project what’s going to happen in basketball.”

It was, however, a buoyant O’Neal who left the practice floor Thursday, soaked both in fine money by the organization for his unexcused absence at Wednesday’s practice and in sweat after running for about an hour. The back spasms that he said would hardly let him out of bed Wednesday had been quelled by an unspecified chiropractor, and he expected to play tonight.

He said with a slight grin that he would have called Jackson on Wednesday, but that his back hurt too much to reach his telephone book and he had never memorized the number at the practice facility.

Jackson smiled at the absurdity.

“I’ll probably get fined,” O’Neal said, “and I accept that.”

The fine, Jackson said, “won’t be small. By his standards it’s minuscule, but by ours it’s not.”

As for having someone else call the organization for him, O’Neal quoted Albert Einstein as saying something about not cluttering your mind with information that can be readily found. Einstein, perhaps, never had back spasms.

“We, as humans, only use 8% of our craniums,” O’Neal said. “Why fill it up with nonessential things?”

Pressed for how his back had been injured, O’Neal playfully mauled two nearby reporters for half a minute, then said, “Like that, 10 years of that knocking it out of line.”

O’Neal’s mood dimmed for only a moment, shortly after being told that Jackson had wondered about his recent gloomy disposition.

“Uh, probably because of him,” he said.

*

While there was no sudden optimism about Malone’s sprained right knee, the organization apparently was leaning against putting Malone on the injured list Thursday.

Malone already has sat out three games and all but four minutes of a fourth. A minimum of five games is required on the injured list, and the assignment cannot be made retroactively, meaning Malone would have to sit out at least until the Jan. 12 game against Cleveland.

Asked whether it was “pretty likely” Malone would be put on the injured list before tonight’s game, Jackson said, “No, not pretty likely. More than likely I won’t make a move. Chances are slim. But it’s a possibility.”

*

Payton and Nate McMillan, once and perhaps someday again great friends, have not spoken since late February, when Payton was traded from Seattle to Milwaukee.

Payton had planned to finish his career with the SuperSonics, and McMillan had become the coach -- management, as it were -- when Payton was sent away in the six-player deal that brought Ray Allen to Seattle.

Owner Howard Schultz and CEO Wally Walker seemed to absorb most of Payton’s ire but some splashed onto McMillan, as much a part of the Seattle basketball landscape as Payton had been.

“[Payton] wanted to retire in Seattle,” McMillan told reporters in Seattle this week. “We talked about that a lot. He was traded under the circumstances that I was coach, a part of that, so I understand he is bitter or he feels upset at me. I’m sure he understands, even though he many not be ready to talk about it.... I’m sure he understands how everything unfolded. As I said, I respect Gary Payton. He still is a close friend of mine. As I said before.... I left a message on his phone. When he is ready to talk, we will talk. Until then, you just move on.”

Tonight, that means defending against Payton, even if that is not necessarily the first priority against the Lakers.

“We are going to trap him,” McMillan said, laughing. “I know how good he is. We are going to double-team him. The emotions, I mean, I don’t know. It will be strange. It will be like us and [Desmond Mason] and all those guys, Vin [Baker] and guys who have been traded coming back to the building.... He will be coming back with a very good team, and he will be coming back wearing purple and gold and they have had a lot of fans in our building without Gary. With Gary, there will be a lot of people supporting the Lakers.”

So, they will be in the same building together for the first time since February, and eventually on the same sideline and, soon enough, only a few feet from each other.

Will they talk?

“I don’t know,” McMillan said. “I don’t know.”

After Thursday’s practice, Payton sent a public relations official to say he would not be available for comment.