King of the Lakers Has Foot in Door : Pro basketball: Obscure second-round pick intends to be around awhile.

His mother died Dec. 10, nine days after he scored 21 points against Georgia Tech, five days after a 41-point outing against Louisville, the same day he got 22 on East Carolina. Then, within 24 hours after Wanda King was buried, he flew from Georgia and played, though not well, at Iowa.

Oh, yeah. Frankie King, soft-spoken small-town guy, is really going to be overwhelmed by this NBA thing.

The Lakers’ lone draft pick last month knows all about the big time. What can be bigger than losing his 43-year-old mother to cancer? He played on, preferring the game to the hurt that solitude would bring.

What can be bigger than facing opponents from the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Metro, Big Eight and Big Ten conferences in a seven-game span last season for Western Carolina (enrollment: 6,300)? He averaged 22.2 points in the five games against teams from those conferences.

He finished second in the nation in scoring as a senior.

What can be bigger than Duke, on the road, the year before? He faced the Cameron crazies as an undersized shooting guard and wound up with 30 points and 13 rebounds in 38 minutes in only his seventh Division I game. “An explosive backcourt player who has an uncanny ability to score,” is how Blue Devil assistant Tommy Amaker remembered him some 18 months later.

For now, the Lakers are content with his promise. They traded two future second-round picks to Washington the day before the draft to get the 37th pick with King in mind; then, with Tyus Edney still available, took the unknown player from unknown towns in hopes he will one day succeed Sedale Threatt as backup point guard.

Raised in Baxley, Ga. Revered in Cullowhee, N.C. And now, Frankie goes to Hollywood.

“After the way this year was going, good and bad, then I didn’t even get invited to [postseason] all-star camps like Chicago or Phoenix,” King said. “I thought it was going to be a long year ahead. I thought I would be in and out of different camps with teams. I thought it would be a long process. I knew one day I was going to get in. I would have given myself three years to make it in the NBA, before I went overseas and had a great career there.”

He laughs. This is as close to outgoing as he gets in an initial meeting.

“Now that I’ve been invited, I’m more focused in staying there, being around for a while,” King said. “One bad season, you could be moving. They showed confidence in me, and I want to stay with them.”

Well, the Lakers didn’t exactly show confidence until the very end. Whispered it to a select few is more like it.

Their two scouts, Gene Tormohlen and Ronnie Lester, saw King and filed positive reports. Executive Vice President Jerry West watched him a handful of times on television, but only once in person, at the Portsmouth, Va., all-star tournament. Coach Del Harris wouldn’t have known King if he had been in the room when the 37th pick came around, though Harris’ role was significant: Talk to then-Western Carolina Coach Benny Dees, a longtime friend, but be adamant that word of the Lakers’ interest not get around.

West did not have exclusivity on this notion. The Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers also called Dees for a background check, and the answer was the same to everyone.

King is such a hard worker that he took 18 units in summer school to satisfy entrance requirements when going from Brunswick Junior College in Georgia to Western Carolina.

King is tough, averaging 26.5 points and 7.3 rebounds a game last season as a 6-foot-1 guard playing despite a bad Achilles’.

And, most important, King is worth the investment.

“They’ll have to kick him out and shut the door,” said Dees, now a high school principal in Vidalia, Ga. “He just loves to play, one of those kids who will be in there Sunday afternoon by himself.”

The same player who was cut from the team in seventh grade and didn’t play full-time varsity in high school until his junior year will have to take the long road, again. He has a good chance to make the Lakers as the fifth guard--unrestricted free agent Tony Smith probably will not be re-signed--but will have to beat out Threatt for playing time as second-string point guard. This becomes an especially important role because Harris would like to reduce Nick Van Exel’s playing time a bit to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

The Lakers have no grand illusions. King is a second-round pick for a reason, not the least of which is that he played mostly shooting guard in college and now will have to make a difficult transition to the point. He could end up this season as nothing more than the understudy to the backup, waiting until Threatt’s possible departure next summer.

At the same time, they love King’s strength and quickness, which enable him to penetrate and either make the shot or get fouled. Besides, it was the 37th pick.

“The most important thing is to have a conviction about who you draft,” West said. “We had a conviction that he was the right player to draft. You have 100 different scenarios on that day, and, yes, he’s a player who conceivably would not even have been drafted and then we could have signed him as a free agent. But he’s the player we want to take a chance on.”