Edwards, Higgins Sign With Lakers : Basketball: Former Clipper center returns to where he started; former Fairfax standout played well in summer league.

Putting teeth into the cross-town rivalry, the Lakers relieved the Clippers of their last holdover center, signing James Edwards.

The Lakers also signed former Fairfax High star Sean Higgins, a free agent who looked good on their summer league team.

The twin signings required finesse, since the Lakers are $3 million over the salary cap.

Edwards, 36, is thought to have gotten a two-year contract. The Lakers squeezed him into the $1.25-million slot created by Magic Johnson’s retirement--even though Johnson may return.

Higgins may have signed for the minimum, which teams can always offer, regardless of their salary cap.

Edwards averaged 10 points per game in his one Clipper season, mainly as a backup. Shortly after the Clippers traded Olden Polynice to Detroit, Edwards announced that he would exercise his option to buy out the last year on his contract.

That made him a free agent, and Thursday it made him a Laker, returning him to the team that drafted him in 1977.

A No. 2 pick out of Washington State, Edwards was traded to the Indiana Pacers six weeks into his rookie season in a deal for Adrian Dantley. Edwards played for four more teams, including a four-year stint in Detroit, where he was a member of the Pistons’ back-to-back champions.

His departure leaves the Clippers with William Bedford, Charles Smith and Elmore Spencer at center.

Bedford, acquired in the deal for Polynice, was the No. 3 center at Detroit.

Smith was switched from forward last season, says he wants to be switched back and is a restricted free agent, besides.

Spencer, from Nevada Las Vegas, was the Clippers’ second pick in the first round of this year’s draft.

Edwards’ arrival across town is expected to end Jack Haley’s Laker tenure. Haley suffered a knee injury this summer and will be out until February.

“James has proven to be one of the better backup centers in the league,” Laker General Manager Jerry West said. “His low-post scoring ability will complement Vlade Divac’s game extremely well.”

Higgins, 23, is a 6-foot-9 swingman. He scored the winning basket for Michigan in the 1989 Final Four semifinal game against Illinois, then left school as an undergraduate the next spring, only to fall into the last pick of the NBA draft.

Selected at the bottom of the second round by San Antonio, he played parts of two seasons with the Spurs. Waived last season, he finished the season with the Orlando Magic, averaging 7.7 points in 38 games overall. He is known as an outside shooter but hasn’t yet established himself as a pro.