Ceballos Returns, Blames Absence on Family Crisis

Cedric Ceballos returned to the Lakers, if not the Laker payroll on Sunday, attributing his sudden disappearance to a family matter and admitting he compounded the problem by refusing to contact team officials for four days.

Ceballos remained on the suspended list for the game against the Charlotte Hornets at the Forum, losing another $27,378. But he will be reinstated today, accompany the Lakers on their six-game trip that starts Tuesday at Orlando and come off the bench that night.

“I had family and personal problems that I had to deal with,” he said. “I apologize for myself and the actions of not letting my employers at the Lakers’ organization know this. There are a lot of things that

I put before basketball--my health, my family and religion--and one of those things came up. I worked out those problems with my family and also myself and I’m ready to move on now with life in general and also my basketball career.

“It had nothing to do with basketball. The Ceballos family had some crises that had to be dealt with and some very emotional times for all of us. We handled those things as appropriate as we thought they could be. They could have been handled a different way within the organization, by letting someone know. At that time, it was little difficult. Now I understand those things. Time to move on.”

And the part about going to Lake Havasu, water-skiing and renting a houseboat, while AWOL?

“A couple of family members came with me to the lake,” Ceballos said. “We really dealt with a lot of things up there.”

Said Jerry West, the executive vice president: “I really don’t have any words of wisdom to add to what Cedric said. But obviously it’s really nice to hear . . . that this was not a basketball-related matter. I told him this was unacceptable under the circumstances because we were not informed of what was going on. If we were informed, it’s been Jerry Buss’ policy over the years to allow players to handle problems away from the court that they need to address.”

West said Ceballos was held out of Sunday’s game because he missed the afternoon shootaround and the practice the day before the game with unexcused absences.

Ceballos was last seen Tuesday night at the Forum, after the Lakers’ impressive victory over the SuperSonics. He played 12 minutes, the fewest in 130 regular-season and playoff games with L.A., leading to speculation he was dissatisfied with his role on the team and upset at Coach Del Harris. Then, he disappeared.

The Lakers left the next day for Seattle, and he was nowhere to be found. The same thing was true Thursday, despite numerous phone messages left by team officials. That continued through Friday--when he was spotted having fun in the Arizona sun--and Saturday. Not so much as a call.

At about 3:25 p.m., agent Fred Slaughter called West and said he and Ceballos were on the way to the Forum. They arrived not long after and met with West and General Manager Mitch Kupchak for between 30 and 45 minutes. Then Ceballos held a news conference and left before the game.

Still ahead: a meeting with Harris.

“There’s no question about that,” Harris said. “It’ll happen.”

Behind closed doors.

“Most of this, I feel, is just private stuff,” he added. “If he makes or misses a shot or rebounds, it’s public. . . . But a lot of the interaction between a player and coach and the whole inner-workings of a team, it’s very personal and very private.”

Said Ceballos, when asked about his relationship with Harris: “Me and Del are fairly close. We have an understanding on how our emotions run. They’ve been worked on a lot throughout the two years here. The understanding is getting better and better, I think, as we march on and can spend more time with each other.

“Del’s a great person. He’s a nice guy. He’s a good coach. I don’t want to crush his ego, but he’s not gonna be a reason for me to stop playing basketball, at all, by any decision he makes for his team or he makes toward me. He’s not anywhere close in making me stop playing basketball because of his decisions.”

Ceballos’ fines could total at much as $56,756 for two missed games and two missed practices, but it is not known if the Lakers will hold him accountable for the missed workouts at $1,000 each.