Shaq Is Back on the Sideline

Shaquille O’Neal will sit out Sunday’s NBA All-Star game in Philadelphia and the next four regular-season games, at least, as the Lakers continue to deal conservatively with his arthritic big toe.

The club put O’Neal on its injured list Thursday, retroactive to Wednesday night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, which O’Neal watched from the bench. Jelani McCoy was activated from the injured list.

Elton Brand of the Clippers will take O’Neal’s place on the All-Star team.

O’Neal, averaging 26.1 points and 10.8 rebounds, was on the injured list from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3 because of the same ailment. If he serves only the minimum five games, he would return Feb. 19 against Boston, having missed games against Chicago, Washington, at Seattle, against Atlanta and at Portland in the meantime.

The schedule will give O’Neal at least 15 days’ rest, and stay a course the Lakers hope will have their center healthy and capable by the playoffs, which begin in mid-April. Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Thursday it is possible O’Neal would return to the injured list at least once more during the regular season, depending on the condition of his toe.

Dr. Robert Mohr, chief of podiatric surgery at UCLA Medical Center, has taken over the treatment of O’Neal from the organization’s team of physicians. He has ordered a modification of O’Neal’s shoe, made by Starter, and a new orthotic device designed to relieve the pressure on O’Neal’s toe.

The next step would be an injection into the toe, but only if the previous measures did not bring relief.

The Lakers were able to start the clock on O’Neal’s five-game stay on the injured list on Wednesday because Kupchak telephoned league vice president Stu Jackson with the transaction before the Chicago game.

Kupchak called Jackson from Italy, then flew to Philadelphia on Thursday via Paris. With assistant Ronnie Lester, Kupchak had spent 10 days in Europe on a scouting assignment, monitoring O’Neal along the way.

There is no sentiment--from Mohr or Kupchak--that O’Neal is careening toward off-season surgery and that doctors and the organization are merely keeping him propped up until then.

Surgery is considered a final resort, however.

“You can’t script it,” Kupchak said. “It has been discussed as a possibility, although not in depth. We’re not there yet, and to weigh where we are going to be three or four months from now is premature.”

O’Neal, who sat out last season’s All-Star game in Washington because of a sore right foot, will participate in most of the festivities during this All-Star weekend.

And while it is impossible to know O’Neal’s second-half availability--he has played in 14 of 23 games since the pain in his toe became acute--Kupchak said he is no more likely to look for front-line help in the days leading to the Feb. 21 trading deadline.

“It’s not going to happen,” Kupchak said. “There’s nobody available out there that would make sense to us.”

That means more of Samaki Walker at center, where he started Wednesday night and in most of the games O’Neal has missed, and Slava Medvedenko, Mark Madsen or Robert Horry at power forward.

Despite their recent struggles--they are 17-12 since their 16-1 start--the Lakers are 33-13, three wins better than they were last season.

“I don’t want to minimize the regular season or the All-Star game,” Kupchak said. “That’s not what this is about. But we are trying to point to the postseason. We may get to the point in March or April, where there’s no improvement, and you have to go as long and hard as you can go. There’s no sense in doing that now.”