It Becomes Sorry State of Affairs for Van Exel

Well, at least he didn’t say he had a “family problem.”

Nick Van Exel apologized Thursday to Laker players, Laker fans, Laker management and staff, his family, little kids who look up to him, the sneaker company whose shoes he endorses, even the media people who had to attend his news conference.

At one point, he ran out of names and paused.

“Who else can I apologize to?” he asked, grinning.

How about Ron Garretson, the referee he bumped off his feet, resulting in $188,000 worth of lost pay and fines?

“No,” said Van Exel. Why not, since he had acknowledged he should have walked away and noted he ran into Garretson by accident?

“I would expect an apology from him also,” said Van Exel. “If he apologizes to me, then I’ll apologize to him.”

He even suggested he hadn’t hit him that hard and Garretson made it look worse than it was--”a Hollywood job.” In other words, Van Exel voiced his regrets while remaining in character, Nick to the core.

“We are human, and sometimes we make mistakes, and I did make a big mistake and I’m paying for it,” he said. “I regret it right now. I can learn from it, and I want to let everybody know that it won’t happen again. . . . I’m probably a marked guy, but I’ll just try to learn, hopefully, to keep my mouth shut and just play ball. This is a big, big learning experience for me, and hopefully I’ll be able to move on and become a better player and a better person because of it.”

The Lakers flew home late Wednesday night and Van Exel was summoned to a Thursday meeting with Jerry West, at which West reportedly let the only remaining Laker co-captain have it with both barrels. West is in no mood for more pranks after the walkout of the other co-captain, Cedric Ceballos, who went boating, made himself and the organization the butt of jokes, then came back claiming a “family problem.”

“I did talk to him, yes,” said West, the team’s executive vice president. “I told him I was very dissatisfied and I think you people all know I’m dissatisfied. . . . You know, we’ve never been in this position before, so it’s new to us. Other teams have had this problem before. I think just by the number of incidents that’s happened throughout the league, obviously you have to be concerned about that.

“But a lot of times young players--and I’m not making an excuse for any of these players--somewhere along the way I think we all need to be taught a very difficult lesson, and that’s to say things are not acceptable. And you can say no to players. And we’re going to have to do that as a league.”

The incident came out of nowhere, in the final minutes of a dispirited one-sided loss at Denver on Tuesday. Van Exel says Garretson gave him the first technical for saying “Good call! Good call!” after a foul on a Denver player.

“Behind the scenes, me and him have been going at it for three years, but I could have walked away,” Van Exel said. “I could have solved the whole thing by just walking away, but I didn’t. I let my emotions get the best of me, and I’m paying for it. But I’m not really worried about the fine. Magic [Johnson] said I could work in his theaters over the weekend. . . .

“I didn’t go back to hit him. I didn’t even go back to touch him. I wanted to just go back and yell at him, basically. But as I pulled away from Rudy [Garciduenas, the equipment man who was trying to restrain him], he was very close to my arm. I can’t see myself hitting him that hard to where he lands on the table. They [league officials] see it a different way. I wasn’t expecting seven games. . . .

“As far as my teammates are concerned, I think most of them are on my side. They thought I was sticking up for them. As far as the fans are concerned, it’s going to take me keeping a smile on my face and trying to keep people happy. I’m really disappointed. I know I let a lot of kids down. A lot of kids look up to me.

“Sometimes you got to learn when to bite your tongue, got to learn when to walk away, when to say no to things and just, basically, be positive and just be strong.”

The Lakers will begin the playoffs in about two weeks, so he has that much time to practice his new act:

Just say nothing.

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NBA Getting Out of Control?

1994-95

$305,500 in fines for 23 incidents involving 32 players (Vernon Maxwell tops with three incidents).*

* Most fined player--Maxwell, $28,500 ($20,000 + $5,000 + $3,500).

* Suspensions--21 games without pay (Maxwell tops with 10).

1995-96

$407,500 in fines for 33 incidents involving 54 players (Charles Barkley tops with three incidents).*

* Most fined player--Dennis Rodman, $25,000 ($5,000 + $20,000) and Nick Van Exel, $25,000.

* Suspensions--52 games without pay (Van Exel tops with seven).

*--Number of incidents includes team fines, not just individuals’ fines.