THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS : LOS ANGELES LAKERS vs. DETROIT PISTONS : Looking for Work : New Role Doesn’t Sit Too Well With Lakers’ Rambis, but He’s Not Complaining

Kurt Rambis, who has mostly played a starting role on three Laker championship teams, said his most recent role isn’t going to change in their final series with the Detroit Pistons.

“I’ll still be cheerleading,” Rambis said.

This means that Rambis expects he won’t play much. He sat out the last three games of the Lakers’ conference finals against Dallas.

Rambis said that if it were up to him, he’d be playing, of course.

“But there’s nothing I can do,” he said. “Right now, I’m not playing. You’re looking at a coach’s decision.’

In his seventh year with the Lakers, Rambis finished the season as a starter, but he could be ending his career with the Lakers as a non-playing substitute.

Rambis, 30, will become a free agent after the playoffs. The new union agreement between the players and the National Basketball Assn. guarantees that Rambis, who made $525,000 this season, will be free to sell his services to any team that wants to bid for them.

Are the Lakers in his future?

“I don’t know,” Rambis said. “I’m a total free agent. I’m going to have to weigh my options in two weeks, when the playoffs are over.”

Some are convinced that Rambis’ options will not include the Lakers. Before Game 7 of the Laker-Dallas series Saturday, Chick Hearn said on his radio call-in show that he was positive Rambis will not play another game with the Lakers.

Laker Coach Pat Riley said he couldn’t remember any discussions with Hearn concerning Rambis’ future with the Lakers.

“I don’t know why Chick said that,” Riley said. “I heard that he said it, though. It bothered me.”

Riley insisted that there is nothing personal or sinister about what has happened to Rambis. What happened, he said, was Dallas forward Roy Tarpley.

“I made the commitment, after Tarpley went for 20 rebounds for the second time against us, that I was going to go with quickness,” Riley said. “Size sure wasn’t helping us any.”

A.C. Green, not Rambis, means quickness, but Riley said that doesn’t necessarily mean that Rambis has no place in the substitution rotation against Detroit.

“Kurt will play a little bit,” Riley said.

Not playing at all doesn’t sit very well with Rambis. He said it means two things to him.

“It’s disappointing; it’s frustrating,” he said. “But we’re winning. If we had a .300 winning percentage, I might have a gripe. I want to play. There’s no secret there, but don’t say that I’m bitching or complaining.”

If the Lakers do say goodby to Rambis, he would not be the first veteran to leave under similar circumstances. In 1984, Jamaal Wilkes gave way to James Worthy. In 1985, Bob McAdoo was moved out for Maurice Lucas, and in 1986, Lucas became expendable to give playing time to Green.

Rambis said the total free agency he has may not be as wonderful as it seems. Negotiating with a new team next season could be as hard as getting into a Laker game this season, he said.

“It’s not like you can go around shopping, get offered $2 million here or $5 million here,” Rambis said. “Every team has to deal with the salary cap, so they have no way of bargaining with you. And the expansion teams, they’re looking for young, cheap talent.”

However, there is already speculation that the Portland Trail Blazers have some interest in signing Rambis, who led the Lakers in rebounds per minute in the regular season. If they really are looking, they know where they can find him. He’ll be sitting at the end of the bench.