Word on Rodman: No Sign, No Deal

Easing into the Rodman era . . .

Dennis Rodman’s agents Monday continued to insist to the Lakers that their client was coming and Rodman, himself, was reportedly telling friends he would join the team.

At the end of the day, however, there was still no signing, no announcement.

In fact, there wasn’t even a Dennis Rodman, not in Southern California, anyway.

While Laker management fretted the weekend away, wondering when he would show up, Rodman spent his weekend in Las Vegas, where he remained Monday afternoon, registered under his own name at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Not that he was taking any questions. A call to his room at mid-afternoon was answered by another man who said he would “see if he’s awake.”

A moment later, the man said, “He would like to know what you’re calling about.”

Told it was about Rodman’s joining the Lakers, the man relayed the question, then reported, “Dennis has no comments about that right now.”

Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, the Lakers maintained their no-comment posture, Rodman’s International Creative Management agents continued to be unavailable, Shaquille O’Neal kept hoping for his “thug” and Coach Del Harris for a set roster he could call his own.

“Oh, let’s hope so,” Harris said at practice at Los Angeles Southwest College. “It would be timely in that we’ve played eight games [two exhibitions and six that counted], which normally would be the end of training camp, anyway. And hopefully we can settle in and be who we’re supposed to be and commit to one another and say, ‘Hey this is our team.’ We can make things happen in a very positive manner for ourselves. . . .

“I know it does weigh on our players a little bit. We try to talk with them and encourage them. But it’s not the best situation, where you feel like you have a good team and yet so many of the players think that maybe they’re going to be moved or replaced in some way.

“I want our guys to know the likelihood of changing is minimal and that it’s just the nature of the beast and we can’t use that for any kind of an excuse to not play well.

“It’s up to us, no matter what is being said, to perform to our utmost. Our guys are good enough players that they should have confidence in their own abilities and not worry about what other people might be saying.”

O’Neal, who has been one of Rodman’s leading backers in the organization, called Rodman last week, but since, he says, has been like everyone else.

“I know as much as you guys know,” he told reporters. “I wake up every morning and I go through the same rituals and read the articles that you write. . . .

“I thought he was coming. But I’m not sure now. . . . We’ve said many times that we want him and everybody knows it’s up to him. It’s not up to us, it’s up to him.

“Everybody knows how much we can give him with the new [labor deal]. . . . Either he wants that or he doesn’t want it.”

Or it takes him a long time to report.

Until the end of last week, the ICM team reportedly held out hope for making a movie deal with Fox first, so Rodman, who doesn’t want to play for the $1-million veterans’ minimum, much less one prorated down to $528,000, could harvest the $10 million he thinks he’s entitled to, by dint of his long years of service and many rings.

By the end of the week, however, Rodman reportedly had met with the Lakers and resigned himself to the prorated minimum, which was going to be augmented by $3 million from his contract with the sneaker company, Converse.

Insiders expected Rodman to announce Sunday, sign Monday and suit up for tonight’s game against Charlotte. However, as the Lakers are beginning to see for themselves, with Rodman, expecting is one thing, getting another.