MAGIC RETIRES AGAIN : His Team Won’t Be the Same : Lakers: Pfund gets a jolt as club goes from championship contender to playoff hopeful.

Now you see him, now you don’t.

It’s Magic.

You might have thought by now that Earvin Johnson was out of surprises, but his sudden re-retirement Monday left the Lakers numb all over again. If they wished him well to a man, their season and their professional lives had just taken on a new look.

“I’ve said since Day 1 that Showtime was over,” said new Coach Randy Pfund.

“That was a different era. The ‘80s were Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and they were Magic and Showtime and Riles (Pat Riley). I’ve said from the start that I don’t think people should look at this team and try to re-create those days of Camelot. This is a different era, and this team is just going to have to make its own moments. This just puts an exclamation point on it for all of us.

“Maybe it was silly of us to think that with Earvin back, everything would be the same.

“I don’t think this makes us totally a rebuilding team, but I think there are some things that are obvious: When you lose a superstar and a player that’s your leader, that creates a little bit different expectation than maybe we started the season with this year.

“But I have confidence in these guys that we’re going to make something good out of this year.”

Making the playoffs has now become the definition of “something good” for the Lakers, who had planned to contend for a championship.

They are now back to where they were last season, when they went 43-39, although with a sound James Worthy, Vlade Divac and Sam Perkins, with newly signed James Edwards, and two promising but young guards, rookies Anthony Peeler and Duane Cooper.

“We can add one $140,000 (minimum salary) player,” said General Manager Jerry West. “And I don’t think there are any Earvin Johnsons making $140,000.

“Obviously, our young players are going to be thrust in there and they’re going to have to make some adjustments. I think both of them felt they were only going to play when the game was out of control, one way or the other. Now they’re going to be asked to do some different things. And if they’re not ready to play, doesn’t make any difference. They’re going to be put in there.”

Sedale Threatt, who would have backed up Johnson at point guard, becomes the starter once again.

Peeler will compete with Tony Smith for the backup spot. Cooper, who wouldn’t have played much, will get more of a look.

Not far off is a major revamping. Last spring, when the Lakers doubted that Johnson would return, Susan O’Malley, president of the Washington Bullets, said that the Lakers had offered her team James Worthy for their No. 1 pick. And Byron Scott is in the final year of his contract.

Johnson’s salary--$19.6 million over the next three seasons, an average of $6.2 million--is fully guaranteed and will count against the Laker salary cap, curtailing West’s ability to sign new players in the foreseeable future.

Laker players were supportive but glum. Scott, a co-captain with Worthy last season and the closest thing the Lakers have to a natural leader in Johnson’s absence, answered a few questions and moved on.

Camelot was over; the rest of their careers had begun.

* MAGIC RETIRES: Almost a year after his first retirement, Laker star calls it quits again. A1

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