LAKER WATCH : Van Exel Story Angers Laker Officials

A Sports Illustrated article detailing Nick Van Exel’s history of physical violence, from incidents at Trinity Valley Junior College in Texas up to his forearm shove of an official earlier this month, has angered the Lakers.

Van Exel said before Game 1 against the Rockets he did not want to talk. But public relations director John Black said he sent a letter to the magazine on Laker letterhead protesting the piece as unfair and one-sided.

“We talked beforehand that they were going to talk about the Ron Garretson incident,” Black said. “But that they were also going to have a balanced story as well--his play and the way he has helped the team. There was not one positive thing in that article.”

Said Laker Coach Del Harris: “I didn’t read the article myself. But I don’t think any of us would want to withstand the microscope of putting the four or five worst moments of our life and making an article out of it.”

The story, in this week’s edition, included claims by some of Van Exel’s former teammates and friends at Trinity Valley that he struck a former girlfriend and, while involved in a fight, kicked an unconscious man already on the ground.