Laker Misery Ends, the Overhaul Begins : Pro basketball: GM Jerry West promises big changes after 103-97 last-game loss to Jazz.

Well, that’s about enough fun for one season.

Sunday afternoon, when the 1993-94 season mercifully ended for the Lakers, they did the proper thing, vowing to clean up the mess they had made over the previous months. Players got started by removing belongings from the locker room after the season-ending 103-97 loss to the Utah Jazz at the Forum and then removing themselves to await a very uncertain future.

Laker management gets its turn now, and the fallout from a 33-49 season, capped by the first 10-game losing streak in franchise history, figures to be of air-raid proportions. The team will bring in a new coach, preferably, General Manager Jerry West said, one with previous NBA experience. A mostly new roster is also desired.

“If I were a lot of these players,” West said, “I don’t think I’d buy a home.”

So noted.

“It’s definitely not a comfort zone in here,” guard Doug Christie said.

Such are the ominous overtones as the Lakers begin the off-season, West signaling an aggressive approach to player changes and owner Jerry Buss more suited than ever to help because his Ph.D. from USC is in chemistry. That is the biggest problem, after all. Bad chemistry.

“Very bad,” said Magic Johnson, now the former coach.

There are plenty of ways to go. The Lakers will draft 10th unless they beat big odds and move up to first, second or third via the lottery. They will have available salary slots to sign free agents, even if the $1.75 million from Dan Schayes and the $1.4 million from James Edwards don’t reel in the top-liners like Danny Manning and Horace Grant. They will have players to trade, looking to break a glut at shooting guard and small forward.

The last significant business Sunday was whether Nick Van Exel would break the record he has chased for weeks, the rookie mark of 125 three-pointers set by Orlando’s Dennis Scott in 1990-91. Van Exel got a record, but not the one he wanted--his 16 three-point attempts were the most by a Laker and tied the third-most in NBA history.

Van Exel made three of those to fall two short of Scott.

Laker Notes

Vlade Divac had hoped he would return after sitting out the previous two games because of a sprained ankle, but did not play. He finished as the Lakers’ top scorer at 14.2 points, the lowest for a team-leader in the Los Angeles era, but became the first Laker to lead in scoring and rebounding since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1984-85. . . . Magic Johnson stuck by his plan to start James Worthy, Kurt Rambis and James Edwards. Worthy got a partial standing ovation as fans acknowledged what might have been the last game of his career, then said later he has not made any decisions on the future. Said Johnson: “I don’t know if he will be willing or able to sit on the bench, because that’s how it will be. . . . If I were to tell him anything, I would tell him to retire and go out the right way.” Worthy has two years left on his contract, including a $7.2-million balloon payment next season, and is not likely to walk away from that. A buyout remains a possibility. “I’m sure we’ll have some talks with him,” General Manager Jerry West said. . . . Johnson finished 5-11 as coach. What effect did he have at the turnstiles? The Lakers were averaging 12,815 at the Forum when he arrived, No. 25 in the league and better than only Dallas and the Clippers. In the 10 home outings since, they averaged 14,865 and had only one game of fewer than 13,000. Attendance Sunday was 15,338.