Comeback Player of Year?

At what he believed to be the conclusion of one of the worst periods of basketball in franchise history, Kobe Bryant had stood in the middle of a locker room littered with wadded tape, crushed ice and bowed teammates and, with a mocking smile, said, “We’re going for a four-peat. It’s only right that we make the story really, really difficult and complex. It has to happen.”

The next thematic turn could occur tonight, if Shaquille O’Neal returns to a lineup sodden with nine losses -- one for each of his unscarred toes -- and growing fatigued. The weeks of rehabilitation were as hard on the 13 standing Lakers as they were on him, as it turned out, and so they practiced Thursday somewhat encouraged by his anticipated play against the Chicago Bulls.

O’Neal visited with his surgeon, Robert Mohr, the specialist at UCLA Medical Center who cleared him earlier in the week, and received a new set of orthotic devices, and now the final prerogative will be O’Neal’s, toe or no.

Soaked in sweat Thursday afternoon, O’Neal waded through a tangle of cameras and notepads, conducting an interview in the amount of time it took him to travel from the door of the weight room to the door of the trainer’s room, about 10 feet.

He said he would gauge his toe this afternoon, after a morning shoot-around, and decide whether to play then. Privately, he has told friends that he intends to play tonight.

“[The doctor] said everything looks OK,” O’Neal said. “I played today, felt pretty good. We’ll just see tomorrow. That’s all I’m going to say.”

These things aren’t ever easy with the Lakers, of course, and are never lacking in drama.

“We’re just holding our breath until tomorrow,” Coach Phil Jackson said, though he didn’t seem to mean it.

The plan, according to Jackson and assuming O’Neal is ready, is to play O’Neal about half the game. And he’s leaning toward bringing the center off the bench.

“He’s going to be upset about that,” Jackson said.

By all accounts, O’Neal is playing well enough, and is conditioned enough, to return, and it’s not as though the Lakers don’t need him.

“We’d like to get on a roll and we think we’ll have a chance in the season to do that,” Jackson said. “Right now, we’re just going to play this like -- I’m not going to say exhibition season, but it’s kind of like getting back into form. So, we’re not going to expect too much out of ourselves. We’re just going to go ahead and play the game and bring [O’Neal] along the best we can, and progressively play him if he improves.”

Chicago veteran Jalen Rose was not surprised with O’Neal’s choice in debuts, both in terms of the so-so Bulls and their 19-year-old center, Eddy Curry.

“He wouldn’t come back against Dallas,” Rose said. “I think he will play a lot of minutes. I think he’s coming back to send a message.”

The Lakers have three miserable weeks to put behind them, and 21 weeks in which to do it. They have fallen well behind Seattle and Sacramento in the Pacific Division, as well as Dallas and San Antonio in the Western Conference.

In the process, even their own sturdy perspective was tested. Bryant was hard on his teammates for failing to make plays or shots. Rick Fox had been suspended for the first six games, stressing an already delicate offense. Devean George was injured and, last seen Wednesday night, was shin-deep in a bucket of ice water, his head resting in his hands.

As a result, the Lakers have had little to defend themselves with. A crowd in Dallas derided Bryant with chants of “Ko-bee! Ko-bee!”, and the next night another in San Antonio delighted in his 17 misses. Their foes are only too delighted to take their free shots, on and off the floor.

“Without Shaq, they’re just another team,” Dallas guard Steve Nash said after a 26-point Maverick victory. “With Shaq, they’re one of the best teams in history. The operative word is team basketball. Is Shaq synonymous with team basketball?”

Dirk Nowitzki cut it even closer.

“Shaq is the Lakers, pretty much,” he said.

They are in last place this deep into a season for the first time since the 1993-94 season, and six games under .500 for the first time since they were 33-39 in April of that season.

At 3-9, they are a loss tonight from matching the worst 13-game start by a defending champion, the 1999 Bulls, the team Jackson left behind, and the 1969-70 Boston Celtics. It appears too, that if the Lakers do four-peat, they’ll win the fourth despite the most meager first 20 games of any champion in NBA history. The 1946-47 Philadelphia Warriors began 11-9 and won the title.

They arrive at O’Neal’s season as the league’s second-weakest shooting team, and that’s where he can help. He has led the league in shooting percentage five consecutive years. There are other, less quantifiable areas, as well.

“We still have a lot of kinks to work through,” Derek Fisher said. “But I think things will run a little better defensively, having that guy back there that opposing teams are afraid to attack.

“A lot of things can change, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be the best basketball team in the league current day. We’ll still have a lot of work to do.”

Fox reminds them that it’s one thing to ride around town with the top down when the championship banners are flying and Randy Newman is singing, quite another to do it when people “want to throw stuff in the car,” such as when they’ve lost seven of eight.

“We’d like to think he’s going to make a huge difference,” Fox said. “We still do have to play better. Our execution has to be better. [But] I know it’s going to lift our spirits for sure.”