‘California, here I come! We’re going to have the biggest sign you folks have ever seen. And you’re not going to like it.’ --Robert Grusnick, Auburn Hills mayor : Vincent to Pay if Lakers Lose Their Magic Touch

As if injuries to Magic Johnson and Byron Scott and two straight losses weren’t enough, there’s more bad news for Lakers fans.

A friendly wager between Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent and his counterpart in the Detroit Pistons’ new home of Auburn Hills would add to the sting of a Pistons’ victory.

If the Lakers lose, Auburn Hills Mayor Robert Grusnick will win the right to put up a Pistons sign on Kareem Court outside the Forum for 30 days. Also, Vincent will have to keep a stiff upper lip during an Inglewood City Council meeting while wearing a black “Bad Boys” T-shirt that sports pictures of Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn.

“California, here I come!” Grusnick sang into the telephone Friday morning, while whooping with laughter. “We’re going to have the biggest sign you folks have ever seen. And you’re not going to like it.”

Vincent, along with a lot of Laker fans, was not available Friday to comment on basketball.

A city spokesman, however, said everyone at City Hall is behind the hometown team.

“We are nervously optimistic,” said Inglewood Assistant City Manager Norman Cravens. “The Lakers pulled it out last year after being down and we certainly think they’ll do it again this year.”

A come-from-behind Laker championship would mean that Vincent would install a 3-by-5 foot Lakers sign outside The Palace of Auburn Hills, the Pistons’ home arena, and Grusnick would be forced to wear a Lakers’ “Three-Peat” T-shirt.

Grusnick scoffs at that possibility.

‘I Hope He Fits Into It’

“I’m going to be (in Inglewood) to make sure your mayor wears our ‘Bad Boys’ shirt,” Grusnick gloated. “I just hope he fits into it.”

Last year, in a bet with Pontiac Mayor Walter Moore, Vincent walked away with two weeks’ free use of a 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix SE--a car he liked so much that he later bought it--and enough light bulbs to illuminate City Hall.

If the Lakers come out on top this time around, city officials said their sign in Michigan will promote Inglewood’s recent designation as an All-America City.

“My staff is coming up with some appropriately modest and tasteful suggestions that should not offend anybody--except perhaps Pistons fans,” Vincent said earlier in the week before the playoffs began.