Let’s See If Nick Has Knack for Keeping His Promises

Nick “I Bet $100” Van Exel has been called and raised by Seattle guard Gary “Make It $200” Payton, as the Lakers and SuperSonics continue to get down bets faster than Albert Belle.

It began as a bet/taunt/joke by Van Exel, who offered to pay the Sonics $100 per man if they won the NBA Pacific Division. The fallout came fast up in rain town. Hersey Hawkins said he would get his crisp new $100 bill framed and mounted, Sam Perkins planned to buy one of Uncle Sam’s savings bonds or T-bills to make that $100 grow, whereupon Payton said something like, “I’ll bet the Lakers a hundred more.”

Sunday afternoon at the Great Western Forum (and Casino?), even the coaches got into the act. SuperSonic assistant Bob Weiss checked with Van Exel on whether he would be eligible for a C-note, same as the players. The Laker playmaker-bookmaker informed him, “Yeah, it’s for the coaches too.”

Then came the game, a 102-91 Laker loss in which Robert Horry did the same thing Shaquille O’Neal did . . . grab his knee and scream with pain. It doesn’t look quite as serious, but just in case, Jerry West might want to give the Golden State Warriors a call to ask about Chris Mullin again. Jerry’s guys are dropping like flies.

I think this little battle between L.A. and Seattle is getting to be pretty funny, with apologies to anyone from Gamblers Anonymous. The Lakers recognize that the Sonics are the reigning division and Western Conference champions, so they don’t mean to, pardon our grammar, disrespect them.

Then again, it is always fun for the Lakers to needle the Space Needlers about how many times they have beaten Seattle in the past.

Sunday’s game was more or less meaningless, with O’Neal missing from one side and Shawn Kemp from the other.

Detlef Schrempf’s 34 points decided it. The score was 89-all one minute, 102-91 two minutes later. No way the Lakers could lose a great defender like Horry and overcome a jumbo Schrempf game.

“What did this one mean?” someone asked the Seattle coach.

“Means nothing,” George Karl said.

Well, that was blunt.

Karl went on to say, “Four teams in the West are good, and we’re never going to find out who’s best until May or June. Trying to pick who’s going to win a marathon at the two-thirds mark is crazy. There’s us, there’s the Lakers, there’s Utah, and there’s . . . who am I missing?”

The Clippers.

“Houston,” Karl added quickly.

Schrempf, for his part, expressed the opinion that every win is big, particularly “ones on national TV, where you like to look good.” Detlef definitely looked good, but there was no Schrempf-and-Kemp combo platter because the NBA suspended the latter one game and fined him $2,500 for trying to punch Houston’s Kevin Willis.

He will be out only $2,400, if Kemp can collect later from Van Exel.

Where the Lakers are, or whom they owe, a few weeks from now, will be fascinating to find out. Nate McMillan of the SuperSonics generously volunteered, “The Lakers are a tough team. With or without Shaq, the Lakers are a tough team.”

The only thing O’Neal could do Sunday was speak to his teammates beforehand (“I told them to hold the fort ‘til I get back”) and to guarantee something he has absolutely no means of guaranteeing (“I will be back for the playoffs”).

Another injury or two, the Lakers might end up the first all-rookie team to play for an NBA title.

Having stockpiled centers, West finds it ironic that the Lakers were prepared for this emergency, yet where a trade is concerned, West said, “The thing we have a lot of is big people, and now it looks like the ones we’re losing are our big people.”

First no Cedric Ceballos, then no Shaq, now no Horry?

Welcome to Del Harris’ front-line roulette.

As forward Jerome Kersey put it, “We just got to the point of getting a good rotation, and now we’ve got to find new ways to rotate.”

I wonder if Van Exel should call off the bet, throw in Horry’s towel.

“Nope. I’ve already called it, I can’t go back on it,” Van Exel stood firm. “I’ll live up to it.”

Well, you have to give Nick credit.

(And he might need it.)

He has $1,200 riding on the Lakers winning the division. . . . more, if Seattle’s coaches demand their cut. Van Exel is putting his money on the Lakers outlasting the SuperSonics. I imagine he is willing to offer Michael Jordan double or nothing.