Decision to Start Is Up to Van Exel

Coach Del Harris said he plans to stay with his plan to let Nick Van Exel decide when he will return to the starting lineup, even as Van Exel voices a preference for continuing as a reserve.

The all-star point guard said he has no plans to tell Harris he wants his job back, even though Harris has left it up to Van Exel to come to him and say when he feels ready. But Harris may make the switch himself in a game or two.

“We’ll wait and see,” Harris said before Friday’s game against the Seattle SuperSonics, which marked Van Exel’s fourth consecutive appearance as a reserve since returning from arthroscopic knee surgery. “It’s just an open-communication thing between Nick and me. Naturally, as coach, I still have to have the last word. It’s still my responsibility to fill out the card. But I would like us to be in accord on that decision.”

Van Exel’s minutes had increased from 18 to 22 to 27 before playing 24 versus the SuperSonics. Wednesday against the Suns, he played six more than starter Derek Fisher and, in an even more telling development, played the entire fourth quarter of a close game.

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The 33 points and 22 rebounds Wednesday made Shaquille O’Neal the first Laker to get a 30-20 in more than 19 years, since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Nov. 17, 1978. Two other players have done it this season, Shawn Kemp of Cleveland and Isaac Austin while with Miami. The 22 rebounds were the most by a Laker since Vlade Divac had 24 on Feb. 24, 1995, against Charlotte. . . . Seattle was without key reserve Jerome Kersey, serving a one-game suspension for his Wednesday altercation with Lamond Murray of the Clippers.