It’s a Real Shootout at Shooting Guard : Lakers: There can’t be room for Christie, Peeler, Jones, Threatt and Smith, can there?

The Lakers arrived a few days ago, preparing for another training camp at the University of Hawaii and making sure to reset their watches. They’re now on decision time.

The issue that was in the forefront the second half of last season, that was compounded on draft day, that was lingering the entire summer, must now be confronted. The shootout at shooting guard starts this morning amid the two-a-day workouts, a battle involving five of the 16 players, among them injured Doug Christie.

The stakes are more significant than who gets the only spot in the opening lineup still up for grabs. In this case, losers might well be leaving town.

Anthony Peeler? The pseudo incumbent after having started all 30 of his appearances during an injury-riddled second season will challenge for No. 1 again.

Eddie Jones? First-year Coach Del Harris likes that he can play some small forward, but the rookie may be busy in the starting lineup in the backcourt if he is as advertised--an exciting slasher on offense and a factor on defense. Look at it this way: The Lakers took him with their first lottery pick, even though they already had four shooting guards.

Sedale Threatt? Streaky or not, he might still be the club’s best perimeter shooter, a bigger factor than ever with the three-point line coming in. That he is a dependable backup point guard at a time when the only other person behind Nick Van Exel is undrafted rookie Trevor Ruffin makes the veteran even more valuable. Then again, he might be more valuable still to a championship contender looking for a third guard.

Tony Smith? Someone has to play defense on a team that finished 21st in the league in shooting percentage allowed. No Laker guard does it better, at least until Jones proves otherwise.

Christie? He has been braced to pull the short straw since late April. Reports from New York are that the Lakers and Knicks have had trade talks, but other teams are probably interested in someone who is 24, athletic and versatile enough to play shooting guard and small forward and, in some situations, point guard.

The Aug. 24 surgery to remove calcium deposits on his left ankle will probably sideline him through all of camp and move him onto the injured list for the start of the regular season.

“There’s a lot of competition,” Executive Vice President Jerry West said. “We like the rookie a lot. Anthony Peeler is healthy again. I think Tony Smith played well when he got the minutes. There are a lot of possibilities, but we think someone will make the decision for us by the way they play in camp.”

And someone might get traded.

“I would think that, obviously, we have to look at that situation very closely,” West said.

Said Threatt, the 33-year-old who joined first- and second-year players at a mini-camp last week to get a jump on learning Harris’ offensive sets: “It’s just preseason, so something can still definitely be done. Some guards on this team can start in other systems.”

Beyond shooting guard, with Elden Campbell, Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos and Van Exel mortal locks at the other positions, the lesser showdowns remain:

--Antonio Harvey, the find of last year’s camp, versus rookie Anthony Miller, a second-round pick by Golden State who was traded to the Lakers a few days after the draft, for end-of-the-bench power forward. Both don’t figure to stick. Best rebounder wins?

--Van Exel, the quick point guard, versus super-quick Ruffin. Van Exel will start and Ruffin, a good ballhandler despite playing mostly shooting guard at Hawaii, has a good chance to make the team as his backup. Watching them burn rubber during scrimmages could become the most exciting matchup of camp.

Laker Notes

The Lakers have only 16 players--15 considering that Doug Christie will only be watching--in what Del Harris said is the smallest NBA camp he has ever had. “We need to start right in coaching the players that are going to be playing in the games,” he said. “We’re not developing a farm team and we’re not trying to develop players for the CBA. We’ve got a new coach, we’ve got a team that I think is ready to put a bad year behind them, and the best way to do that is to get right with the program from Day 1.” . . . The only sure-fire goner among the 16 is Kendrick Warren, a rookie small forward from Virginia Commonwealth. . . . George Lynch has switched from uniform No. 24 to No. 30.