It’s a Long Way From Broaddus, Tex. : Lakers: Teagle’s route to his current role has taken many turns.

It’s a hard world to get a break in. Ask Terry Teagle, a Laker accustomed to making his own luck.

Teagle comes from Broaddus, Tex., population 212, a farming hamlet on the Louisiana border--near the relative metropolises of Nacogdoches and Lufkin--that makes the place where they shot “The Last Picture Show” look like Manhattan.

Teagle’s hometown is thought to be the smallest of any active NBA player’s, but being far from the bright lights was the least of his problems. One of 11 children, his parents never married. He and five brothers and sisters were taken by his grandmother, who had a small farm. The kids awoke early, rode a bus 12 miles to a school that included Grades 1-12, rode home and did their chores until dark.

Teagle, conscientious then as now, is said to have made a major college coach recruiting him wait until he had finished pulling the weeds in his grandmother’s yard.

“It was a hard life,” Teagle says. “A very hard life. We weren’t anywhere close to being OK off. The things we got, we had to work hard for. We were struggling.”

Before Teagle, few Broaddus kids went on to college, and none on scholarship. Teagle, a high-jumping 6-foot center, took his high school basketball team to four straight appearances--and three championships--in the state Class A basketball tournament, and a big world began to open up.

Coaches such as Eddie Sutton of Arkansas and Guy V. Lewis of Houston turned up in Broaddus. Schools from Hawaii to the East Coast wrote.

Teagle considered only Texas schools, and those fearfully.

“When I made all-state, I was 14 years old,” he says. “I was considered the youngest player ever to make it.

“It was scary, being from a small town--basically just a small country town. You’re getting these letters from places that you’ve never seen, you’ve only read about. It was scary.”

Of the players on the great Broaddus teams, only Teagle went to college. Several could have, he says, but “they just didn’t want to venture out.”

“I could have gotten a scholarship a lot of places, but I don’t know, as far as actually going there, I don’t know if I could have at the time.”

He reduced his possibilities to Southern Methodist, Texas A&M; and Baylor, finally selecting Baylor, a five-hour drive away in Waco. He acclimated quickly. He was freshman of the year in the Southwest Conference, player of the year as a sophomore, junior and senior.

“I was very surprised,” said Vinnie Johnson, for one year Teagle’s college teammate. “He came from a very small town. You expect a guy coming in from there might have had great athletic ability. But Terry, he knew how to play the game. He was the type of guy who always wanted to learn and always asked questions.”

Teagle was a No. 1 pick of the Houston Rockets and started 44 games as a rookie. A year later, he fell into disuse under a new coach, Bill Fitch, and was waived. He had a two-game hello and goodby in Detroit. He was playing in the Continental Basketball Assn. when Golden State called. He played six seasons there, impressing coaches John Bach, George Karl and even Don Nelson, a harder sell.

Teagle, splitting time with Otis Smith, advised Nelson to play one or the other. Nelson promptly sat Teagle down for 13 games and played Smith.

But by the spring of 1990, Teagle was a big part of Nelson’s little-people strategy. Teagle, at 6 feet 5, had a knack for beating bigger players and as such was matched up against such behemoths as Karl Malone and Charles Barkley. He got his career high, 44 points, against the Mailman.

He was exactly what Jerry West was looking for to revitalize his bench. West sent a No. 1 pick to Golden State for him. Magic Johnson took a $100,000 cut to make it possible under the salary cap.

It didn’t work out as either party had hoped.

Teagle, used to the Warriors’ open-court game, got fewer minutes and shots in a more structured offense. His scoring average fell from 16 to nine and his shooting percentage, 44%, was his lowest since he was a rookie.

“It was a difficult adjustment,” he says. “We were going to run, run, run. When they traded for me, that was one of the things they said. When I came, it was totally the opposite.

“It was an adjustment just to play with guys as good as these guys--the James Worthys, Byron Scotts, Magic Johnsons.

“After the season, my attorney and I didn’t think they would pick up my option. We didn’t think it was a good situation for me. But they picked it up. . . . In training camp, I didn’t feel like I was wanted. To be truthful with you, I didn’t believe they had any plans for me. I didn’t play in many preseason games. What are you supposed to think?”

The Lakers were going to use Sedale Threatt and Tony Smith as a backup tandem. Teagle was either going to be the No. 5 guard or waived. Before that happened, Johnson retired and a new hand was dealt all around.

In the latest shuffle, Teagle has gone back to small forward on the No. 2 unit, as in his old Warrior days. First returns have been impressive, so who knows?

Whatever, Teagle will hang in.

“You know, my 10 years in the league haven’t been the easiest 10 years,” he says. “I’ve had to go through a lot just to stay around. Not playing, I went through that and worse with Don Nelson. That wasn’t new territory to me.”

He and his wife of 10 years have a 6-year-old daughter. They live in Hermosa Beach during the season and Houston in the summer.

For a week or two in the off-season, he goes home to Broaddus. He says he will never forget where he came from, which is good, because few ever came any farther.