MRI for O’Neal Today

DENVER —  Shaquille O’Neal, who has not played in nearly a week and has no idea when he will return, is scheduled to have an MRI exam on his strained right calf today in Los Angeles.

He suffered the injury in the second quarter of Friday night’s game in Seattle and said Wednesday he had experienced no improvement, despite daily treatment.

The new theory on O’Neal’s balky calf -- he had a similar injury in late November -- is that O’Neal’s gait causes him weakness in the area.

On a damaged big right toe that was corrected by surgery in September 2002, O’Neal has run splayfooted, a symptom the physical therapy team is trying to correct.

*

In order to clear a roster spot for a potential move later in the season, save some money and allow Jannero Pargo to play elsewhere, the Lakers waived the reserve guard Wednesday, three days before all NBA contracts were to become guaranteed.

An undrafted free agent out of Arkansas, Pargo played 1 1/2 seasons for the Lakers. He played 34 games last season but only 13 in this one, spending the last two weeks on the injured list.

“Believe it or not,” Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said, “we factor into it the fact that he needs to play.”

Forty-eight hours are needed to clear waivers.

“This provides another roster spot should somebody come available through the waiver procedures,” Kupchak said. “Not that we have anybody earmarked, but it gives us some flexibility. The painful thing about it is, we think he’s a really good kid.”

The Lakers have 14 players on their roster, 12 active.

Kupchak added that any other roster moves probably would wait.

“To make a determination on this team’s ability to play with Shaquille O’Neal and Karl Malone injured would be misguided,” he said.

*

Phil Jackson feels Gary Payton’s frustration. He hears it too.

The day after Payton expressed his frustration -- “I didn’t sign up for this ... ,” he said -- Jackson sort of agreed.

“That’s part and parcel to losing,” he said. “What he has to understand is, we have a game back to back the next night and when you’re down by 14 and 16 points, you can burn out a kid playing the extra three minutes at the end of a game. That’s my determination, to pull the plug on a game, and I have to live with that.”

Meantime, Payton is determined to push the ball, when he is at his best, and Jackson has asked for a slower tempo, at least until Malone is healthy.

“We’re still struggling to get things accomplished in the half-court,” Jackson said. “We want to run. We feel comfortable running. But running’s not the best thing for us to do right now. We’re not a deep enough team right now to cover a running game.... So we’re going to have to slow it down and play half-court.”

*

The officer responsible for security at the Eagle County courthouse met Wednesday with Jose Revilla, part owner of the firm employed by the Lakers to guard Kobe Bryant. Capt. Ken Wilson said that there have been no recent threats made against Bryant or anyone else who has been attending the court proceedings, and that the relationship between Bryant’s security force and Colorado law enforcement has never been strained.

A source close to the investigation said Tuesday that requests made by Bryant’s representatives for changes in security had been denied, and there was concern because of threats against the Laker guard.

Wilson denied that there was any friction between Bryant’s security staff and law enforcement and said that Wednesday’s meeting was to discuss details specific to the next six days of hearings that were set by the court Monday.

“We’ve worked well with them since this thing started,” Wilson said. “We’ve not always agreed on everything, but have always worked it out.”

*

Times staff writer Steve Henson contributed to this report.