Lakers’ Wohl Likely to Leave for Orlando

Assistant coach Dave Wohl is close to leaving the Lakers to join the staff of his friend and new Orlando Magic Coach Doc Rivers, sources indicated Wednesday.

Wohl, added to Kurt Rambis’ staff in March, is a former head coach of the New Jersey Nets and is one of Rambis’ most trusted associates.

But Wohl has always looked forward to coaching with Rivers, the sources said, and the coaching situation with the Lakers remains relatively uncertain.

As has been the status for several weeks, Laker management is believed to be ready to rehire Rambis, elevated to interim coach to finish out the season after Del Harris was fired in late February.

Executive Vice President Jerry West apparently has not officially presented--or gotten approval to follow through on--his recommendation to owner Jerry Buss that Rambis be given a two- or three-year contract.

West, General Manager Mitch Kupchak, Rambis, Wohl and assistants Larry Drew and Bill Bertka are in Chicago this week for the NBA pre-draft camp.

Meanwhile, there are no indications that center Shaquille O’Neal is preparing to exercise a clause in his contract that would allow him to become a free agent.

If O’Neal does not exercise the clause by June 20, the final four years and $81.47 million of his original seven-year deal remain in effect.

“I think Shaq is very happy being a Laker,” his agent, Leonard Armato, said Wednesday. “And I don’t anticipate any movement.”

*

Officials from the Arrowhead Pond are believed to have contacted the San Antonio Spurs recently and invited the team to consider moving to Anaheim. The Spurs want out of the Alamodome, and a recent proposal for a new arena collapsed.

Pond General Manager Tim Ryan declined to confirm or deny talks with any specific NBA franchise. Ryan did say the Ogden Corp., operator of the Pond, is “aggressively pursuing options” for NBA tenants and that he has “spoken to a number of NBA entities,” including current and potential team owners, since the Clippers canceled their annual Anaheim series last month.

The Spurs’ lease expires in 2003, but they have a 90-day window at the end of each season to provide one year’s notice of their intention to leave.