Shaq Sidelined for at Least One Week

The bothersome, and potentially serious, strained abdominal muscle that has sidelined Shaquille O’Neal for the second time in training camp will now cost him the Lakers’ final three exhibition games, starting Wednesday night and concluding with the two Forum appearances.

O’Neal aggravated the injury, which earlier resulted in two missed days of workouts, during the first quarter of Tuesday’s game at Denver and flew home to be examined by team physician Dr. Steve Lombardo on Wednesday while his teammates were defeating the Washington Wizards, 124-113, in overtime at Las Vegas. Lombardo confirmed the problem in an area just above the groin and said the star center will be out at least a week.

If that’s all the time O’Neal misses, he could be ready for the regular-season opener Oct. 31 against the Utah Jazz at the Forum, though probably not at 100%. A more definite timetable should come after the next examination, scheduled for Monday. Until then, O’Neal will have physical therapy and take anti-inflammatory medication.

The return of the injury means that O’Neal, who originally strained the muscle on the opening day of training camp in Palm Desert and then sat out the next two days, will essentially have played in only half of the eight exhibition games. He went out Tuesday after playing only four minutes and now will miss the last three contests. He averaged 23.6 points and 8.4 rebounds in 23.8 minutes while shooting 65.2%.

It also means something of a fractured start for the Lakers as a whole, coming after Nick Van Exel sat out two games because of a bruised bone in his left knee and Elden Campbell sat out two others on personal business. All that remains on the schedule are games Friday and Saturday at the Forum, first against the Atlanta Hawks and concluding against either the Wizards or Seattle SuperSonics.

The Lakers outscored the Wizards, 17-6, in overtime on Wednesday night after rallying in the fourth quarter to tie the score, 107-107, at the end of regulation.