The NBA / Gordon Edes : Lakers Play Like a Million Bucks and They’re Worth It--and More

The Lakers’ place in history is yet to be determined--repeating as champions, of course, would strengthen their claim as perhaps the greatest team ever--but there’s no question where they rank on the all-time payroll. Numero uno.

When the Lakers open the National Basketball Assn. regular season at the Forum Nov. 6 against the Seattle SuperSonics, Coach Pat Riley will send out a starting five worth $6.3 million, assuming that everyone is healthy.

Magic Johnson, voted the league’s Most Valuable Player last season, checks in at a team-high $2.5 million. Team captain Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is next at $2 million, with a $1 million raise already promised for next season. Forward James Worthy, who last summer signed a 7-year, $10.9-million contract extension, will be making $1 million this season. Byron Scott, who signed a new contract on the eve of training camp, will be paid $600,000, and forward A. C. Green, in the third-year of a four-year deal he signed as a rookie, comes in as low man at $200,000.

There’s plenty of well-heeled talent on the bench, too, starting with backup center Mychal Thompson at $712,000. Thompson is in the second year of a five-year deal that tops out next season at $800,000.

Michael Cooper, the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, is in the second year of a contract that will pay him $612,500 this season, and Kurt Rambis--the subject of trade rumors as well as speculation that he may not be protected in next season’s expansion draft--will make $525,000 in the last year of a three-year contract.

On the far end of the bench, backup guard Wes Matthews is making $125,000, and Mike Smrek and Adrian Branch are making somewhere around the NBA minimum, which is $75,000. Billy Thompson, expected to begin the season on the injured list, is making $230,000 this season, including a signing bonus, in the middle year of a three-year deal. Newcomers Jeff Lamp and Milt Wagner, should they make the team, would both be making minimum.

Total Laker player payroll: an estimated $8,650,000.

John MacLeod was fired as Phoenix coach last season before the Suns’ drug scandal erupted, but he can be excused for feeling snake-bitten in his first month as coach of the Dallas Mavericks after center Roy Tarpley went public with his drug problems.

Tarpley, a member of the NBA’s all-rookie team last season, is receiving treatment under the league’s anti-drug program after spending six weeks last summer in a substance abuse program in Van Nuys.

Maverick owner Donald Carter has been supportive of his 7-footer.

“Roy felt he was bringing disgrace on us,” Carter said. “He’s not. If it was one of my kids, I’d feel the same way. You don’t like it, but you’d sure rather know about it and solve it. And you can’t solve it halfway. That’s what can happen if you don’t come out with it.”

Injury of the week: Phoenix forward Larry Nance will be out a month after breaking the ring finger on his right hand. Nance suffered the injury when he struck his hand on the rim while trying to dunk.

Shopping for a big man: While Sam Bowie wonders whether another comeback attempt is worth it after breaking his leg in the same place for the second straight year, the Portland Trail Blazers are in the market for someone to help center Steve Johnson.

A logical place to look, of course, is in Utah, where the Jazz is stockpiling heavyweights: Mark Eaton, Darryl Dawkins, Mel Turpin.

If Coach Frank Layden decided to play Eaton, Dawkins and Turpin at the same time, he’d have a front line that averages 7-feet and 277 pounds. As for substitutes, he’d still have 6-11 Thurl Bailey and 6-9 Karl Malone.

Dawkins, known as Chocolate Thunder, actually weighed in at a pound heavier than a tubby Turpin--281 to 280--but with only 9% body fat.

Add Dawkins: Layden, who has a fondness for one-liners, says he also appreciates Dawkins’ sense of humor, but hopes he’ll cut down some on the clowning.

Said Layden: “He’s still the 18-year-old kid who’s now 30 and has been in the league 12 years.”

He’s there for the taking: Utah’s Kelly Tripucka, one year after being acquired from the Detroit Pistons for Adrian Dantley, doesn’t fit into Jazz plans.

Tripucka, 28, averaged only 23 minutes a game last season, one reason his scoring average was cut in half, to 10.5 points a game.

Tripucka’s salary may make it hard for the Jazz to move him. He’s making about $900,000 a year. Still, there was a report that Houston might be interested in getting him for Robert Reid and Steve Harris.

The only team that shot worse than the Clippers last season was the Washington Bullets, who made just 45.4% of their shots. That’s a major reason they signed former scoring champion Bernard King to a $2-million-plus, 2-year offer sheet even though the New York Knicks’ small forward has played just six games since tearing up his knee in 1985.

The Bullets’ accuracy may not be helped much by No. 1 draft choice Muggsy Bogues. The 5-3 guard went 1 for 13 from the floor in his first two exhibitions.

Add Bogues: Pat Riley, after the Lakers got their first look at the league’s smallest player:

“Little son of a gun. He’s great. Before the game we talked about how to defend him and in the second quarter we couldn’t stop him, anyway. He just took over and rolled through us. He opened up the whole game for them.”

Denver Coach Doug Moe, after watching Otis Smith of the Nuggets dunk over Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls in an exhibition: “All I can tell you is that it reminded me of myself when I was playing. Or maybe it was when I was dreaming.”

Celtic report: Larry Bird, after a summer of pumping iron, has that lean and hungry look, according to reports. . . . After unloading Sam Vincent and Scott Wedman to Seattle to give themselves some maneuverability under the salary cap, the Celtics reportedly are giving some thought to signing former Laker Maurice Lucas, a free agent after spending last season with Seattle. . . . Surprise standouts in training camp include second-round draft pick Brad Lohaus, the 7-foot forward from Iowa, and Mark Acres, a free agent forward from Palos Verdes High School and Oral Roberts University.