Attention L.A. Centers: Help Is Not on the Way

Despite Shaquille O’Neal’s bad toes, and despite his apparent lack of improvement in the past seven days, the Lakers probably will not add a true backup center in the coming weeks, General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Friday night.

In O’Neal’s absence, lanky power forwards Samaki Walker and Slava Medvedenko have done the heavy work at center, with Jelani McCoy another option.

O’Neal’s big right toe is arthritic, and he continues to experience pain in his small left toe, four months after surgery.

Kupchak said he did not assume O’Neal would come off the injured list after the required five games, in time for the Jan. 4 game against Phoenix, because, “He’s indicated it hasn’t gotten a lot better.

“We’ve got another five days. Let’s see.”

Though O’Neal needed time off his feet, it apparently does not mean less playing time would be beneficial when he does return. Team physician Steve Lombardo said this week that the pain could leave his arthritic toe as quickly as it came, on which the Lakers are counting.

“It’s the kind of malady that there’s not one thing or another you can do,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “Weather affects it. Humidity affects it. Cold will affect it. I don’t think you can say a lot of minutes will affect it. But I probably won’t practice him as much. The practice time will probably be cut a little.”

Meantime, the trading deadline is nearly two months away, which leaves a lot of time to mull the minutes O’Neal might not be on the floor.

The Lakers have a $1.8-million traded-player exception, but have no plan to exceed the luxury tax ceiling, which could happen if they added a salary.

Even if they had the notion to add heft, there is hardly a glut of decent centers these days. Jackson had Greg Foster all of last season and almost never used him.

“Let’s see how this thing works out,” Kupchak said. “You always think about the day Shaquille O’Neal is not around, and what do you do. But we don’t think about that right now. We feel it has a pretty good likelihood of getting better.”

Jackson occasionally has chuckled over his thin reserve centers, but that was before O’Neal went to the injured list. He said adding that depth was worth a look.

“We’ll think about it. We’ll have to consider it,” Jackson said. “I don’t think it’s really likely, but we’ll have to consider it. We’re not very big once he’s out of the lineup.”

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Chick Hearn, home in Encino recovering from open-heart surgery, issued a short statement Friday.

It read:

“The overwhelming love, respect and devotion given to Marge and myself has made this setback acceptable. I promise on my return to help the Lakers realize the true meaning of the word ‘three-peat.”’