Lakers Leave Town Without Rodman

Even for the participants involved, nothing was definite about the strange scene Saturday after Laker practice, only that Dennis Rodman was staying true to his erratic reputation.

And that he was taking an indefinite leave from the Lakers.

A few minutes before 1 p.m. (the practice was scheduled for 11:30 a.m.), Rodman drove into the players’ parking lot at L.A. Southwest College, spoke briefly with Coach Kurt Rambis as his teammates departed for the airport, and did not make the team’s 2 p.m. Saturday flight to Sacramento for tonight’s opening game of a six-stop road trip.

Moments after the behind-the-gym discussion (which included Rodman’s two bodyguards), a team spokesman said that Rodman decided that he needs to be away from the team indefinitely to deal with “non-basketball-related personal issues,” and that the Lakers do not know when he will return.

“We’ll cross all those things whenever we find out what’s going on,” Rambis said.

Rambis continued an animated conversation with the two bodyguards in the parking lot while Rodman sat in a white Mercedes.

Then, 12 minutes after he arrived, Rodman wandered out of the car, grabbed the car keys from one of the bodyguards (who was still talking to Rambis), and drove off.

Rambis said he wasn’t sure if Rodman’s absence will be considered excused or not, and added that Rodman did not say when he would return.

“I have no idea,” said Rambis, making an effort to remain serene only moments after ending the confab. “You’re asking me hypothetical questions, and I don’t have the answers to those.”

Rambis said that neither Rodman nor his bodyguards told him when Rodman would rejoin the team.

“Nothing got resolved,” Rambis said. “So you’re after something that didn’t happen. I’m telling you nothing happened, so nothing happened.”

Rodman was excused from practice last Monday for personal reasons, was late to his first Laker practice last month, and, of course, has a history of unconventional behavior--but also a friendship with Laker owner Jerry Buss.

Rodman sat out the second half of Friday night’s victory over Golden State, when the team announced that his right elbow was sore.

No one in Laker management could be reached for comment about Rodman’s absence Saturday night.

Saturday afternoon, a source said that Rodman was emotionally distraught over personal issues on Monday--triggering his missed practice--and that the same issues are creating the current situation.

The source did not know when the situation would be resolved.

On Saturday, Rambis said the team knew that when it signed Rodman, there would be times like these.

“That’s why I’m not going to freak out about it,” Rambis said. “It’s just something we’re going to have to deal with and we’re not going to let it disrupt us and we’re just going to continue to move on.

“We have a talented ballclub and I can make adjustments and we will go from there. . . . My dad always told me you do the best you can with what you’ve got.

“If he’s there, great, and if he’s not, then I just have to adjust.”

Before it was announced that Rodman wouldn’t be with the team in Sacramento, Shaquille O’Neal, one of the key people who brought Rodman to the Lakers, said he didn’t have a problem with Rodman missing practices.

“That’s Kurt’s problem--I mean, it’s not really a problem,” O’Neal said. “That’s Kurt’s deal . . .

“You work as hard as him, I don’t give a . . . what you do in practice. That guy works hard in the game, so I don’t have a problem with it. Not everybody can do that like him. But somehow when he plays the game, he turns it on.

“It’s not a problem. I think you guys want it to be a problem more than we do.”

Derek Fisher said that the players aren’t surprised or overly bothered by Rodman’s sideshow.

“Nobody really seems to worry about where Dennis is or what he’s going to do,” Fisher said. “As long as when he shows up at the game, he’s ready to rebound and play defense. I think everybody knew that before we even signed him . . .

“You know if I ever didn’t show up one day, guys would be like, what’s going on? Am I sick, am I hurt, is everything OK? But when you expect things from certain people, it really doesn’t bother you as much.

“It’s no big deal, we can’t control it. We don’t talk about it, we don’t discuss it, we don’t even worry about it.

“I think Kurt’s done a great job, he let everybody know that there were going to be some days when Dennis was going to miss practice or whatever the case may be, and that he would be fined and whatever else accordingly, just like everybody else.

“Once he put the notice out that he’s going to be treated like everybody else . . . then that’s it. If he can afford to continue to pay the fines for missing or whatever, then that’s his choice.”