If He Retires, Grant Wants to Leave Wearing a Ring

Horace Grant, 35 last summer, has no plans beyond this season. Maybe he’ll play professional basketball. Maybe he won’t.

Grant has not asked for a contract extension. His agent says he won’t, probably. Not now.

And so when Grant is asked to identify the areas of his game he would most like to improve in the early going, be it conditioning, shooting accuracy or generally reacquainting himself with Shaquille O’Neal, Grant nodded.

“All of the above,” he said. “I’m on a mission this year. If this is my last year playing basketball, I want to go out with a championship ring.”

Though he does not frequently mull retirement, neither does he dismiss it anymore.

“It’s not a certainty,” he said. “I’ll evaluate the situation after the season.”

Grant began his 14th season Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, right where the Lakers needed him--up front, beside Shaq, against the Trail Blazers’ never-ending rotation of power forwards. The Lakers expect him to defend Rasheed Wallace, Dale Davis and Shawn Kemp and they expect him to score against them, particularly in June.

“It’s always tough to judge on the road in the first game of the season,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “It depends on what kind of [credibility] Horace has with the officiating, because this is a team that is going to put a lot of pressure on individual defense. If you keep your players out of foul trouble, then it will have an effective measure. Horace, by nature of how our team is balanced without Robert Horry, is almost going to have to be without fouls.”

In the long term, Jackson said, “He’s going to contest Rasheed. He has the size and the length to do that. His ability to fight on the block is good. He’s got the moxie. He knows how. It’s a game that is a precursor to see what we’re going to be able to do against Rasheed. However, Horace is not in the kind of season shape he will be in in a month or two.”

Grant said it is too early to measure his impact.

“They beefed up with the addition of myself, Greg [Foster] and Isaiah [Rider],” he said. “It gives us a legitimate chance. But, with Shawn Kemp, and with Rasheed Wallace being a premier power forward, it’s going to be tough. We have our work cut out for us.”

*

From the westbound lanes of Highway 84, the main thoroughfare from Portland’s airport to downtown, a 30-foot Kobe Bryant smiles down at traffic. The massive mural is an advertisement for Bryant’s shoe company, Adidas.

It seemed an odd billboard in Nike country, in Trail Blazer country. Bryant saw it for the first time Monday evening, when the team bus passed by.

“Dang,” he said, “it looked all right.”

*

Portland center Arvydas Sabonis, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, is expected to return by the end of November. . . . Staples Center will open tonight at 6, 30 minutes earlier than usual, because of the ring ceremony.

TONIGHT

vs. Utah, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 1-0, Jazz 1-0.

* Record vs. Jazz (1999-2000)--3-1.

* Update--Substitute John Starks for Jeff Hornacek, and the Jazz is a better defensive team, if not as dangerous from the outside. Starks, the quintessential streak shooter, also brings attitude. Karl Malone, 37, and John Stockton, 38, are together again for perhaps the last time. Stockton’s contract runs out after this season and he is considering retirement.

* Tickets--(213) 480-3232.