Lakers Stay on Course Amid Changes

Even as the NBA canceled league meetings in Orlando, Fla., along with its rookie orientation program and a handful of international exhibition games, the Lakers on Thursday continued to prepare as if their training camp would be held as planned.

The team is scheduled to open camp in Hawaii on Sept. 29, play an exhibition game against the Golden State Warriors in Honolulu on Oct. 7, and play two games against the Warriors in Tokyo on Oct. 13-14.

Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak, a Long Island native, said Thursday that the team and the league would monitor the wisdom of international travel in the wake of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C.

“At this time, we are planning to proceed with training camp in Hawaii and our two preseason games in Japan,” Kupchak said. “However, the environment changes on a daily basis. I don’t know what tomorrow or next week will bring. Whatever we feel is the best thing for the organization--and our feeling the NBA has the same interests as well--then that is what we will do.”

The Warriors maintained a similar stance.

“At this point, until the league tells us otherwise, we’re planning on those two trips,” said Robert Rowell, chief operating officer of the Warriors. “We’re also going to listen to our players. But we won’t have those discussions until we need to.”

NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said the situation remained too volatile to predict, that the league acted on coming events first, and that it would begin to consider the Lakers’ trip to Japan as those dates neared. It is even possible, he said, that the league would delay the start of training camp. Most teams open camp Oct. 2.

“We’re going to evaluate everything,” he said, including enhancing security at NBA arenas.

In the event the Lakers and the league deemed travel too treacherous, the team would train at its facility in El Segundo.

The bi-annual league meetings of NBA executives and team general managers were scheduled for Sept. 20-23.

The rookie transition program, designed to soften the arrival of first-year players, was to begin Sunday in Virginia.

Also, the league canceled exhibition games in China and Taiwan, scheduled to start Sunday in Shanghai.