LAKERS-CLIPPERS REPORT

The Lakers have come to expect the unexpected this season after the wooing and signing of Rodman and the firing of Del Harris as coach. But even though the Jones-for-Rice trade had been rumored for weeks, players still felt unsettled Wednesday.

“It shakes up your locker room a little bit,” point guard Derek Harper said. “When things like this happen, you deal with it professionally. You can’t moan or become negative. You keep walking. You don’t look left or right. . . .

“Eddie and Elden are going to be missed, but you have to understand this is a business, and in business, anything can happen. Obviously, management feels this was in the best interest of the team. You have to have tunnel vision about what your main objective is, and our main objective is to win the championship. Hopefully, we won’t skip a beat, but we’re going to have to mesh things together again.”

Said forward Rick Fox: “We’re an exciting team to watch now. There are a lot of guys on this team who are capable of bringing people out of their chairs.”

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Harper did like one aspect of the deal: not having to face Rice anymore. “Glen has killed me everywhere I’ve been,” he said. “He’s instant offense and an all-star player. He’s been right at the top of the league, averaging 23, 24 points a game, and the guy is one of the best pure shooters in the game.”

But with the Lakers on an eight-game winning streak and averaging 102.6 points a game during that span--compared to 96.3 over their first 12 games--was the deal really necessary?

“I wouldn’t say necessary, because we got to the Western Conference finals [last season],” Bryant said. “But we’ve got to get over the hump. We’ll always be a contender because we have so much talent.”

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Fox had an interesting theory on how the Clippers might improve.

“I think it will help once we’re in the same building with them,” he said of the teams’ move next season--with the Kings--to the $360-million Staples Center. “It’s tough for them. You wish them well. You see those guys around town and you feel for them. No one wants to be 0-16.”

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The Lakers have outrebounded their opponents in seven consecutive games . . . . O’Neal’s double-double Wednesday was his 14th this season. . . . Robert Horry started Wednesday for only the fourth time. . . . The 35 points in the first half was a season low for the Lakers.