All’s Quiet on the Laker Front, so Scott to Play on Greek Team

Byron Scott, his final attempt to end his career as a Laker having been thwarted when they refused to commit on a contract for next season, has agreed in principle on a two-year deal to play in Athens.

All that remained by Wednesday night was for Scott to speak with Executive Vice President Jerry West. The veteran shooting guard wanted to ensure that this will be a pleasant parting and would not close the door to returning some day to work in the front office or as an assistant coach. Once that is done, Scott is expected to sign the contract with Panathinaikos AC.

He got the bad news from General Manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday: The Lakers will not offer the $326,750 permitted under the complicated salary-cap rules, and, depending on what happens on the free-agent front in the next several weeks, may not make an offer at all. Scott was willing to turn down the multimillion-dollar proposal in Greece to stay in his hometown but could avoid the overseas deal no longer when the Lakers would not commit.

“We did not expect to be put in this position so close to July 1 [the start of the free-agent period],” Kupchak said. “So we were not prepared, because of all the surrounding circumstances, to tell him one way or another.

“We could have misled him or strung him along. And my best guess is that he would have rolled with that. But it would not be good to tell him something right now and then decide to go in another direction in a couple weeks after he had passed up what seems to be a great way to continue his career, with the dollars they are apparently talking about.”

Asked if Scott was disappointed with the news, Kupchak said: “My best guess is he was. It is a tough thing, to hope to hear one thing and hear uncertainty instead.”

According to people close to the situation, the total package for Scott could be worth upward of $3 million. That would include a base salary of about $2 million, with performance incentives worth another several hundred thousand dollars. He would also get the use of a car, a three-bedroom apartment, 16 round-trip tickets for family and friends to visit, and, another important factor, will have the taxes paid by the club.

Europe can be a terrible place to play compared to the NBA. But Panathinaikos, for whom Dominique Wilkins played in 1995-96, has advantages. It’s in a major city rather than a remote town, and plays in a new 20,000-seat arena that would rate nicely in the United States.

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The Lakers, having increased the prices of all seats last summer, are expected to announce another bump for 1997-98, but only for some seats.

The cost of the upper sections will remain the same. The loge, however, will climb at different increments: the seats that used to be $33.50 are going to $35, the $45 seats will become $50, the $67 seats go to $80, and the $110 seats are scheduled to be $125. The floor seats, which don’t go on public sale, will increase from $600 to $800.

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Coach Del Harris has been named an assistant to Rudy Tomjanovich of the Houston Rockets in the 1998 world championships in Athens. Mike Jarvis of George Washington and Lon Kruger of Illinois are the other assistants. . . . The Lakers have released their exhibition schedule: Oct. 9 against the Denver Nuggets in San Diego, Oct. 10 at Phoenix, Oct. 17 against the Clippers in St. Louis, Oct. 18 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Kansas City, Oct. 21 at Denver, Oct. 22 against the Washington Wizards in Las Vegas and Oct. 24 and 25 in the Lakers Shootout at the Forum. The Seattle SuperSonics, Atlanta Hawks and Wizards are the other teams.