Harper Gets Nod at End of Games

Coach Del Harris said his inclination is to stay with 16-year veteran Derek Harper in the late going of tight games, despite the frustrations of second-year starter Derek Fisher.

“Harp has been playing well and of course Harp is a 16-year veteran and if you’re not going to take advantage at the end of the game, I don’t know when you do that,” Harris said Monday.

“I told both Dereks before we ever played a game that we would start out with letting Harp close the games out unless [Fisher] is just having an overwhelming night.”

Harris also said that Fisher has gotten off to a slow start in the first week of the season.

“Right now we just haven’t really gotten our running game going,” Harris said. “Certainly, [Fisher] had trouble with [John] Stockton [on Sunday]. So those things have kind of worked against him.”

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Shaquille O’Neal said he has been in contact several times recently with free-agent forward Dennis Rodman, but has no idea whether Rodman will sign with the Lakers.

“We talked,” O’Neal said. “He said he’s got to talk to [owner] Jerry Buss. . . . I heard him say he wants to come to L.A. I heard him say he wants to go to Orlando, but I know [Magic owner Richard] DeVoss isn’t having that. I know [Miami Coach] Pat Riley isn’t having that. So we’re kind of the only option left.”

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As a result of the labor agreement that puts limits on salaries, Eddie Jones says he has fired his agent, Sal DiFazio, and has hired a lawyer to negotiate his deals on an hourly basis. “I think it’s a waste,” Jones said of having an agent in the new labor era. “I’ve got my marketing people, and I’ve got my financial guy. And I’ve got my lawyer to look at my contracts. You can’t take care of everybody. You don’t need an agent anymore to go in and negotiate the deal for you. It’s all spelled out.”

Four Lakers fouled out of Sunday’s loss to the Jazz. When was the last time that happened? When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Chones, Jamaal Wilkes and Michael Cooper fouled out, Jan. 29, 1980, in a four-overtime loss to Cleveland. . . . Because of flu, forward Travis Knight did not accompany the team to San Antonio, but the team said he may join it in Denver for Wednesday’s game. . . . Marie Bertka, the mother of assistant coach Bill Bertka, died Sunday night in Santa Barbara. She was 97.

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Houston forward Charles Barkley was fined $5,000 by the NBA for directing obscene language toward fans during the Rockets’ loss Friday at the Great Western Forum.